Posted by
David Smith on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:13:14 PM
Happy Birthday, Jane Roe!!
That's right, today is the 35th anniversary of the Landmark case, Roe v. Wade (1973), being thrust upon the public. January 22, 1973. I was just an embryo in my momma's womb, having been conceived sometime around Christmas 1972 and born in September 1973. And since then some 45 million + of my peers--my classmates--my buddies and potential girlfriends--have gone on to become dumpster bait for birds and rats instead of doctors, lawyers, husbands, fathers, mothers, and yes, even burger flippers at the local fast food establishment.
Now, I awoke this morning with narry a concern in the world for the significance of the date. But a good friend of mine shot over a link to another fellow blogspot blogger's blog, Justin Taylor, and his interview with Robert P. George, Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Now, Prof. George is a major University professor, hold a Juris Doctorate (JD--law degree), and is otherwise a well-credentialed individual. So when he says some of the things that he says you can pretty well take it to the bank.
So what about a simple bloke like me with an MBA?
Now, all 5 of you who regularly read my comments will recognize the same points in my writings that Prof. George makes, and then some. Where Prof. George's interview discusses how the Supreme Court was flat out wrong in handing down Roe, I have gone further in explaining specifically why it was wrong based on the limited (as opposed to general, which is what the Court employed) jurisdiction delegated to it in the Constitution.
I have spoken about how it is not legal for an individual to sue another individual from their own State in Federal Court.
I have spoken about how it is not legal for an individual to sue their own State in Federal Court.
I have spoken about how it was legal in the original text of the Constitution to sue a State other than yours in Federal Court, but the 11th Amendment did away with that.
You see, it is the place of State Court to decide and deliberate State matters. I don't know why it is so hard to understand that point. When one ceases to take the Constitution at word value and tries to read into it that which does not exist, you get all kinds of problems and the argument that common people cannot understand the Constitution holds true. When you read the Constitution for what it says and what it means, everything lines up nicely!
That explains me. I have not attended Law School. I do not buy the standard line espoused by most Law School's that the Constitution is "a living, breathing document."
Ehhh!! Wrong--it is Law. Plain and simple. And the Law States that if an item is not covered by the Law (meaning the Constitution) it falls to the States, not the Federal, to govern the matter until such time that the States amend the Constitution to delegate that issue to the Federal Government specifically.
That is the key point--that the Constitution is one of limited delegation of Power. And that if something comes up later, it can be amended to include advancements in Law, industry, medicine, etc.
Finance! Oh...my...gosh--there's an industry that advances faster than the government can keep up with. New financial instruments are being developed constantly and old ones modified into new instruments. The Constitution largely leaves this industry to the States, and admitedly, with an institution like the New York Stock Exchange in existence, it is probably good to have some national regulation of the financial markets. But it is not delegated to the Federal Government to determine what its powers are. That is left to the States through the amendment process.
So if abortion does not fall in the realm of Federal oversight, it falls to the States to regulate it. And if some little punk, Norma Jean McCorvey, wants to challenge her "right" to go out, get knocked up, and get a morning-after, it falls not to Harry Blackmun to regulate her ability to do so, but to her State.
And I have also said that when someone like Harry Blackmun, author of the Roe opinion, determines that it is, in fact, in the realm of the Federal Government to regulate abortion, the Congress is imbued with the Power to instruct the Federal Judiciary to butt...a...stump!! This according to the Powers delegated to Congress to ordain and establish the inferior Courts of the Federal Judiciary, and except and regulate the appellate jurisdiction of the supreme Court of the United States, found in Article 3, Section 1 and Section 2, respectively.
But as some of my friends have said, what do I know? Who am I, "some great political analyst?"
No. Just a guy who can read who has the reading comprehension of a 4th grader. Prof. George is the well-credentialed one. Listen to his words. Ignore mine.
What do I know?