Tuesday, August 26, 2003

The federal courts should stay out of Alabama's business

Alan Keyes hits the nail on the head:
The First Amendment to the Constitution plainly states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ..." Since there can be no federal law on the subject, there appears to be no lawful basis for any element of the federal government – including the courts – to act in this area.

Moreover, the 10th Amendment to the Constitution plainly states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This means that the power to make laws respecting an establishment of religion, having been explicitly withheld from the United States, is reserved to the states or to the people.

Taken together, therefore, the First and 10th Amendments reserve the power to address issues of religious establishment to the different states and their people.

Now, the 14th Amendment... lays an obligation upon state legislatures, officers and officials to... resist federal encroachments that take away the right of the people to decide how their state governments deal with matters of religion...

Chief Justice Roy Moore['s] refusal of the order... is his duty under the Constitution of the United States. Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, the eight associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court, and indeed any other state officials in Alabama who submit to the judge's order are, by contrast, in violation of the federal Constitution, as well as their duty to the constitution and people of Alabama.

WorldNetDaily: On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution really says

No comments: