Wednesday, July 14, 2004

two court decisions

I guess I’ll poke my head in here to let you know I’m not totally cut off from the real world.

Two court decisions still have my goat even though they’ve been out for a while.

First is the World Court saying that Israel’s planned security fence to keep terrorists out is illegal. When did the World Court, the U.N. etc. ever give a d**n about protecting Jews from Islamic terrorists? Then the World Court has the gall and arrogance to issue this decision. Frankly - and I mean this from my heart, after much reflection – the World Court can go to Hell.

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has said he’ll do the right thing about this decision – ignore it.

Speaking of court decisions that beg to be ignored, the Supreme Court ruled that making pornographers make their slimy websites child-proof is unconstitutional. Look, it’s already a stretch to say pornography is protected by the Constitution at all. But, as I’ve made clear, free speech is important to me, so I can tolerate some erring in that direction. But to say the Constitution says pornographers can’t be required to take measures to make their web sites inaccessible to children?

I’ve long thought that it might be necessary for a President and Congress to defy an egregious Supreme Court ruling to put the Court in its place. After all, the Constitution gives both the President and Congress responsibilities and avenues to keep the Supreme Court from becoming a dictatorship of black robes. And both branches have dropped the ball. The result is outrageous attacks on Constitutional democracy such as this internet porn ruling.

This case has been sent back to a lower court, so it’s not completely decided yet. But maybe this will be a good case for a President and/or Congress to say to the Supreme Court, “No, the Constitution does NOT say that. You don’t have the Constitutional authority to rule thus. And we will defend the Constitution and our democracy by ignoring your ruling.�

It’s obviously preferable to avoid that. Constitutional crises can get ugly. But if an arbitrary dictatorship of black robes getting stronger and stronger is the alternative…

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