Federalist Paper No. 78 & 79 – Janine Turner
Howdy from Arizona! We are Constituting America across the great states of America via our Constituting America RV in celebration of our winners of our We the People 9.17 Contest. We are filming a documentary and a reality television show! Check out our winners and their works on our site. They are going to be unveiled as we travel from state to state.
Arizona is a rather appropriate place to be during the discussion of Federalist Papers 78 & 79 because it is almost certain that the new immigration lawsuit that the United States government filed against the state of Arizona will end up in the Supreme Court.
As I read Federalist Papers 78 & 79, I am intrigued by Alexander Hamilton’s following statement regarding the judicial branch of the United States government.
“A constitution is in fact, and must be, regarded by the judges as a fundamental law.”
If this is the requisite then how is it that the Supreme Court recently upheld the fundamental right to bear arms in Chicago, a basic right for all Americans stipulated in the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution, by only ONE vote. This is truly astonishing.
One of the primary reasons that the Supreme Court exists is to make sure that the laws that are legislated and executed by the other two branches of the government are constitutional. Thus, how is it that upholding the 2nd Amendment could ever be in question? No matter what lofty interpretation the suit in Chicago may have received by the four Supreme Court dissenters, it is flawed by their blatant lack of respect for their constitutional restraints.
“A constitution is in fact, and must be, regarded by the judges as a fundamental law.”
This begs the question: is the Supreme Court, and other courts across America, overstepping their Constitutional bounds and legislating from the bench? This was never the intention of our founding fathers and they do not have this right in the Constitution.
Alexander Hamilton explains the dangers:
“The judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power [1]; that it can never attack with success either of the other two; and that all possible care is requisite to enable it to defend itself against their attacks. It equally proves, that though individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter; I mean so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the legislature and the Executive. For I agree, that “there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.” [2] And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments;”
- Is our judiciary the weakest of the three departments of power? If it is not, then the general liberty of the people are endangered by the Supreme Court and other courts across America. Is this not evidenced by the Supreme Court’s recent reluctance to uphold the basic fundamental right to bear arms? By one vote, the people of Chicago almost lost this right.
2. We Americans have every thing to fear from the Supreme Court’s union with the other two branches of government. Publius wrote the warning in this Federalist Paper 78.
“And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments;”
Publius further implores the warning:
“The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited constitution…whose duty it is to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the constitution void.”
“The manifest tenor of the constitution.”
We, as American’s, must hear the Constitution’s music. We must understand the melody and heed the conductor, which is the Constitution. If we have this song in our hearts we will protect and defend its majesty.
And we will make sure that our government does so too.
Our power is in our knowledge, our voice and our vote.
Please make sure that your families, friends and children know the song, sing the song, and rise to the swell of the calling of the music. We must protect the,
“Manifest tenor of the constitution.”
God Bless,
Janine Turner
Monday, August 16th, 2010
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