In predictable fashion, the pro-abortion forces have found judges who say
that despite the will of the American public and of the Legislative and
Executive branches of government to ban partial-birth abortion, this procedure
must be allowed to continue.
The courts that have made these judgments have done so based on the absence
of a health exception in the legislation. Yet they pay no reverence to the
fact-finding powers of the United States Congress, which did not ignore the
issue of a health exception, but after many years of investigation and
testimony, with far more fact-finding resources than any court system has, and
many more hearings and deliberations, reached the carefully considered
conclusion that this procedure is never necessary for a woman's health.
The Congress does not overstep its bounds here. It is quite aware of the
Supreme Court's rulings. It is also aware of the fact that we have three
branches of government, not one, and that each is capable of interpreting and
defending the Constitution.
Along with the efforts that will be made to defend the ban in the courts,
renewed efforts need to be made on the part of all Americans to understand,
appreciate, and assert the authority of the legislative branch of government,
and re-establish a true balance of powers, taking away from the courts, if
necessary, jurisdiction over certain critical issues on which they have
blatantly contradicted the will of the American people. Alexander Hamilton and
others, in fact, wrote at the founding of our country that judges who neglected
the rightful authority of the Legislature, and the will of the people, deserved
impeachment.
President Andrew Jackson summed up the balance of powers issue when he wrote,
"Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that
he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by
others...The opinion of the judges has no more authority over the Congress than
the opinion of Congress has over the judges, and on that point the President is
independent of both."
The last forty years have seen an amazing and growing display of judicial
arrogance, and it continues to intensify. It was the Courts, not the people,
which took prayer and Bible reading out of public schools. It was the Courts,
not the people, which legalized the killing of unborn children. It was the
Courts, not the people, who refuse to prohibit partial-birth abortion. It was
the Courts, not the people, which could not endure a monument of the Ten
Commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court. And it is now the Courts, not the
people, which are questioning the very nature of marriage.
It is time for action. Let your elected representatives in Congress know that
you want the legislature to assert its authority more vigorously. Let your
Senators know that you want them to confirm judges who realize the limits of
judicial authority. Help everyone within your reach understand these critical
problems and their solution. And in 2004, vote accordingly!
