11th Amendment - Further Limiting The Courts
22 February 2012 10:59:00
By Douglas V. Gibbs
The Judicial Branch was added almost as an after thought. The judiciary was originally designed to be the weakest of the three branches of government. The Anti-Federalists feared the judicial branch becoming a judicial oligarchy, and therefore the judicial branch was constructed to only apply the law to cases they hear. All opinions the judges may have of the law after reviewing the law was considered to be only opinion. Any changes to law, regardless of what the courts felt about the law, could only be made legislatively. However, soon after the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, fears of a tyrannical court arose, and so additional limits were placed on the federal courts by the 11th Amendment. No case against a state by citizens of another state, or by the citizens or subjects of a foreign state, shall be heard by a federal court.
The 11th Amendment changes the intent of Article III. As limited as the courts were supposed to be, the Founding Fathers realized the courts weren't limited enough, and as a result, the 11th Amendment wound up being ratified in 1795.
Federal judges maintained that the federal courts should have the power of judicial review, or the power to determine the constitutionality of laws. In response to the judicial urgings for the powers to judge the extent of the federal government's powers, in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison warned us that giving the federal government through its courts the power of judicial review would be a power that would continue to grow, regardless of elections, putting at risk the all important separation of powers, and other much-touted limits on power. The final arbiters of the Constitution are not supposed to be the courts, argued these Founding Fathers who were believers in the limiting principles of the U.S. Constitution. The power of the federal government must be checked by state governments, and the people. The States and the People are the enforcers and protectors of the U.S. Constitution.
The problems of federal intrusion on the states via the federal court system arose in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia in 1793, which eventually led to the proposal, and ratification, of the 11th Amendment. A citizen of South Carolina sued Georgia for the value of clothing supplied by the merchant during the Revolutionary War. After Georgia refused to appear, claiming immunity as a sovereign state, as per the Constitution (Article III, Section 2) the federal courts took the case. The nationalist view of by the judges deemed that in this case Georgia was not a sovereign state, therefore the Supreme Court entered a default judgment against Georgia. What ensued was a conflict between federal jurisdiction and state sovereignty that reminded the anti-federalists of their fears of a centralized federal government consolidating the states, and destroying their right to individual sovereignty.
Realizing that the clause in Article III gave the federal courts too much power over state sovereignty, Congress immediately proposed the 11th Amendment in order to take away federal court jurisdiction in suits commenced against a state by citizens of another state or of a foreign state. This is the first instance in which a Supreme Court decision was superseded by a constitutional amendment, and evidence that the founders saw the legislative branch as being a more powerful part of government over the judiciary.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Islamist Lobbies' Washington
22 February 2012 03:46:00
Islamist Lobbies' Washington War on Arab and Muslim LiberalsPlease take the time to read this very important story written by a courageous Egyptian liberal intellectual about the Islamist and Muslim Brotherhood lobbies in Washington and the Obama Administration's secret collaboration with these pro-terrorist, anti-Western, anti-women, anti-American and anti-Semitic organizations. This is one of the most important articles I have read in years.-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Perserverence
21 February 2012 23:53:00
The only difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is that the successful didn't quit. -- Douglas V. Gibbs
A professional is an amateur that didn't quit. -- Douglas V. Gibbs
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Gas Prices Over $4.00 Per Gallon In California
21 February 2012 19:59:00
By Douglas V. Gibbs
I noticed yesterday when I filled up for the week that the gas price at the least expensive gas station along my route to work topped over $4.00 per gallon. It cost me $8.50 more to fill my tank than just a couple weeks ago, and I drive a compact car with a 12 gallon tank. That is why Obama is pushing to keep that payroll deduction cut in place. He figures you'll be thanking him because you'll need that extra $40.00 per month to cover rising fuel costs.
The media is saying the gas prices are going up because of the turmoil in Syria, violence in Egypt and around Israel, and threats by Iran as the Iranians go on a war footing. However, if the United States completely opened up the flood gates to domestic drilling, and began to access local reserves, while constructing more refineries to keep up with the new oil, and while also building the Keystone Pipeline to bring more Canadian oil to our refineries, the additional supply to the worldwide amount of oil and to our local system would drop prices below $2.00 per gallon in the United States instantly.
The 1979 Energy Crisis and the oil crisis of the seventies was met with Reagan opening up drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and Alaska in 1981. By 1985 the oil prices crashed downward, revealing the success of Reagan's "drill for oil" policy.
The democrats won't drill because they want the price of gas to continue to skyrocket. . . they want you out of your cars and into public transportation. You are easier to control that way. Cars allow you to be way too independent.
The drive for green technology also better enables the liberal left to control your energy usage, by making energy so expensive that you are forced to limit your use. Ultimately, then, the government could knock out all private energy industries, including oil, and regulate your energy use at will.
The American People are blindly accepting this authoritarianism, because the people have been convinced that the Earth is in trouble, and it's all your fault. . . so you fall for the energy tyranny willingly, in the hopes of saving the precious planet.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Constitution Class, Calvary Chapel Murrieta, Homeschool Organizations
21 February 2012 15:46:00
Tonight is the first night of the Constitution Class taught by me at Calvary Chapel Murrieta for the homeschool groups. Classes will be held from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Tuesdays in the Spanish Ministry Room. If you would like to attend, late registration is still available, or you may attend for $5 per session. After this class concludes in April, we will be opening up another class to the congregation and all other folks who wish to attend. Notebooks containing all of the handouts will be on sale during the second meeting for $25 apiece.
If you wish to attend a more informal session, we also hold classes on Thursday Nights at Faith Armory in Temecula from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and the second Monday of each month at Bella's Pizza in Murrieta behind the IHOP on Murrieta Hot Springs Road. A class in Chino is in the works, and will hopefully begin in April or May. We are currently working out the details with the Chino Tea Party and Calvary Chapel Chino Hills at this time. Contact me at ConstitutionSpeaker [at] yahoo.com for more details, or other inquiries.
If you are in Southern California's Inland Empire, and would like a class in your community, and you have a group of fifteen or more interested, contact me and we will be glad to get a class started in your neck of the woods as well.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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