An Open Letter To The U.S. Senate, Regarding The Nomination of Samuel Alito To The Supreme Court
(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 25, 2006 ) Alexandria, VA -- Dear Senators:
Today you begin the highly-important task of deciding whether our next Justice of the Supreme Court will be Samuel Alito or someone else. We the People of the United States are watching with great interest as you go about this job, which only you are authorized to do.
Earlier, we watched as you gave your Constitutional Consent, without fully understanding his views, to the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice. He dazzled you with his obvious legal brilliance, and then he gave some lame excuses for not telling you everything you needed to know. And you lamely accepted them, blinded as you were by his legal brilliance. Now he is on the Court, for better or for worse, probably for life. And now now we will find out, after it is too late, what his real views are.
And we watched with amazement as President Bush nominated, and then withdrew, the very nice but obviously-unqualified Harriet Myers. Now we, the American People, are watching very carefully to see what you do with the Samuel Alito nomination. And we cannot stand silently by while you approve this, or any other nominee, who would likely harm the Supreme Court and the Country. You are our elected representatives in this matter, and you are ultimately responsible to us, the People. If you fail to perform your job properly, we can remove you, by election. We are the Sovereign, you are our agents. Many qualified people would like to be United States Senators, and each of you can easily be replaced. If you resigned today, you could be replaced tomorrow.
Three serious flaws have now become apparent in the existing method of nominating and approving Supreme Court candidates, and these flaws need to be identified and corrected immediately, before they do any more harm. Only after they are corrected can you properly do your job of judging the merits of the Samuel Alito nomination.
The first and most obvious flaw in the process is that President Bush has sought no meaningful advice from the Senate before presenting his nominations. Perhaps he has consulted with a selected few individual Senators, but his bizarre nomination of Harriet Myers proves that only a very few, if any, were consulted in her case; and his nomination of the highly-divisive Samuel Alito proves that he heeded only the advice offered by the most extreme elements of his Party, in his case. In the future, the Senate should refuse even to consider any nomination for which its advice was not sought and heeded by the President. You have the Constitutional Right to reject any candidates you find unsatisfactory, for whatever reasons you choose. The President has now sent you two unsatisfactory nominees in a row. This flaw needs to be corrected. And because the President failed to seek your advice in the Alito nomination, you are not obligated in any way to presume that this nomination is worthy of your support.
The second obvious flaw is that you have accepted the false assertion that Supreme Court nominees are somehow prevented from giving you straight answers about what they believe the law to be. It is meaningless for them to say, "I will follow the Law," or "Nobody is above the Law," without letting you know what they believe the Law to be. For instance, Judge Alito may very well believe that the anti-torture provisions you recently enacted are unconstitutional, interfering, as they do, with the magical Unitary Executive authority which he erroneously believes is possessed by the President. If he believes this, then when these cases come before him, he will rule that the President does not have to follow an unconstitutional law. You need to know this before, not after, Judge Alito becomes a member of the Court. The plain fact is that there is no legal, moral, or ethical reason why these nominees cannot tell you whatever you need to know, even if these exact cases might be coming before the Court. They are prohibited only from giving you a commitment. They are never prohibited from giving you their understanding of the applicable laws. I have previously explained all of this in my article located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/itisnottrue.html
The third obvious flaw is that you seem to have accepted the idea that a "Nuclear Option" could be used to break a filibuster, by simply having the Chair falsely declare that further debate is out of order. Then, according to this false idea, the decision of the Chair could be sustained by a simple majority. And thus a Standing Rule of the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote to amend, could be subverted by a false ruling sustained by a simple majority. The very concept is absurd on its face, as I have explained in my article located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/nuclearoptionisabluff.html
And any nomination confirmed by such a tainted process would surely be rejected by the Court, if challenged.
Today you begin a full and open debate on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States, in violation of a direct order from President Bush, who had instructed you to give him a "prompt up-or-down vote," by which he meant a Rubber-Stamp approval of Judge Alito, without question or debate. Please see
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060114.html )
If it had been possible to get the sixty votes needed to bypass debate and go straight to a vote, I'm sure he would have instructed you to do that, in order to avoid any annoying questions about his choice of Alito. But sadly for him, the votes were not there, and now you are heading into what he had hoped to avoid: a full and open debate on the suitability of Samuel Alito for this vitally-important lifetime job.
But wait a minute! Why does he feel he can order you to do anything? How can he presume to instruct you in any matter whatsoever? Why should you take orders from him? He is the President - the Administrator, not the King, because we have no King, thank God. You are the Senate - maker of laws, along with the House Of Representatives. He is obligated to follow and enforce whatever laws you may enact, whether he agrees with them or not. He cannot obligate you to do anything. You can remove him from office; he cannot remove you. He should be kissing your ring, not you kissing his. If you doubt these facts, please re-read the Constitution, a copy of which is located here:
http://www.patriot.net/users/bmcgin/usconstitutiona.txt
The mere fact that he felt entitled to issue this command to you should have alerted you to the fact that our President is dangerously deluded about his Constitutional role in our Government.
Here's a secret, which you have not yet discovered: President Bush is not your friend. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, he is not your friend, because he is not a friend of the Senate. Yes, he smiles at you, when you (needlessly) obey him. And he bestows his Presidential favors on those whom he chooses. And he frowns and makes trouble for those who displease him. But he is not your friend; he is just using you to get what he really wants: more power. He wants "Unitary Executive" Power, which means he wants to be in charge of everything the Federal Government actually does. Everything! It is okay for the Congress to express its opinion in the form of "Laws." And it is okay for the Supreme Court to express its opinions in the form of "Decisions." But neither of these are binding on the President, the Leader, "Der Fuehrer," according to the Unitary Executive Theory. They are merely advisory, because only the Leader has the actual authority, according to this dangerous, radical Theory. For more details, please see
http://www.UnitaryExecutive.net
And now we turn to Samuel Alito, the nomination before you:
Yes, it is true that Samuel Alito has an excellent knowledge of the Law. as he understands it to be. This is a necessary condition for him to be on the Court, but it alone is not sufficient.
And yes, it is true that his friends and co-workers and his peers seem to think he is a wonderful fellow in all respects: honest, fair, modest, respectful courteous, etc. And that is nice, but it alone is not sufficient to place him on the Court.
And yes, it is true that he has a long-standing, deep belief that Roe v Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned. (Parenthetically, I agree with Alito on this: it is very weak law, wrongly decided, built on legal sand. Furthermore, if Roe v Wade is allowed to stand, it will eventually be used to legalize prostitution, drug use, polygamy, and child pornography, all on the basis of the supposed "Privacy Right.") And this belief, alone is probably the decisive factor for many Senators. If he is legally smart, approved by his peers, and wants to overturn Roe v Wade, that is all they need to know. "Approve him!" they exclaim. "We must not murder any more unborn children!" His position on this issue, coupled with his other qualifications, makes him so desirable to some Senators, that they cannot see beyond it. And they do not want to be denied having Samuel Alito on the Court, no matter what else may be wrong with him. Their rationality has been over-ruled by their emotions.
But there is one tragic flaw in Samuel Alito. And this one tragic flaw absolutely disqualifies him for a position on our Supreme Court. And this one flaw is that he is a long-time enthusiastic Champion of the dangerous, radical, unconstitutional "Unitary Executive Theory." This Theory strongly asserts that the President is the rightful holder of all Executive power in our Government, and as such should have total control over everything done by the Executive branch, the military, all administrative agencies, and all other functions, other than advisory functions, which are done by the Federal Government.
These ideas result in a Dictator, or a King, not a President as we know it in our system. And any person who supports this theory cannot possibly be supporting our Constitution, and is therefore unqualified to be on the Supreme Court, or to hold any other Federal office.
Therefore I urge you to reject the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Blessings to you. May God help us all. And may God bless America!
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director
http://www.LoveAllPeople.org
and http://www.InternetchurchOfChrist.org
Today you begin the highly-important task of deciding whether our next Justice of the Supreme Court will be Samuel Alito or someone else. We the People of the United States are watching with great interest as you go about this job, which only you are authorized to do.
Earlier, we watched as you gave your Constitutional Consent, without fully understanding his views, to the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice. He dazzled you with his obvious legal brilliance, and then he gave some lame excuses for not telling you everything you needed to know. And you lamely accepted them, blinded as you were by his legal brilliance. Now he is on the Court, for better or for worse, probably for life. And now now we will find out, after it is too late, what his real views are.
And we watched with amazement as President Bush nominated, and then withdrew, the very nice but obviously-unqualified Harriet Myers. Now we, the American People, are watching very carefully to see what you do with the Samuel Alito nomination. And we cannot stand silently by while you approve this, or any other nominee, who would likely harm the Supreme Court and the Country. You are our elected representatives in this matter, and you are ultimately responsible to us, the People. If you fail to perform your job properly, we can remove you, by election. We are the Sovereign, you are our agents. Many qualified people would like to be United States Senators, and each of you can easily be replaced. If you resigned today, you could be replaced tomorrow.
Three serious flaws have now become apparent in the existing method of nominating and approving Supreme Court candidates, and these flaws need to be identified and corrected immediately, before they do any more harm. Only after they are corrected can you properly do your job of judging the merits of the Samuel Alito nomination.
The first and most obvious flaw in the process is that President Bush has sought no meaningful advice from the Senate before presenting his nominations. Perhaps he has consulted with a selected few individual Senators, but his bizarre nomination of Harriet Myers proves that only a very few, if any, were consulted in her case; and his nomination of the highly-divisive Samuel Alito proves that he heeded only the advice offered by the most extreme elements of his Party, in his case. In the future, the Senate should refuse even to consider any nomination for which its advice was not sought and heeded by the President. You have the Constitutional Right to reject any candidates you find unsatisfactory, for whatever reasons you choose. The President has now sent you two unsatisfactory nominees in a row. This flaw needs to be corrected. And because the President failed to seek your advice in the Alito nomination, you are not obligated in any way to presume that this nomination is worthy of your support.
The second obvious flaw is that you have accepted the false assertion that Supreme Court nominees are somehow prevented from giving you straight answers about what they believe the law to be. It is meaningless for them to say, "I will follow the Law," or "Nobody is above the Law," without letting you know what they believe the Law to be. For instance, Judge Alito may very well believe that the anti-torture provisions you recently enacted are unconstitutional, interfering, as they do, with the magical Unitary Executive authority which he erroneously believes is possessed by the President. If he believes this, then when these cases come before him, he will rule that the President does not have to follow an unconstitutional law. You need to know this before, not after, Judge Alito becomes a member of the Court. The plain fact is that there is no legal, moral, or ethical reason why these nominees cannot tell you whatever you need to know, even if these exact cases might be coming before the Court. They are prohibited only from giving you a commitment. They are never prohibited from giving you their understanding of the applicable laws. I have previously explained all of this in my article located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/itisnottrue.html
The third obvious flaw is that you seem to have accepted the idea that a "Nuclear Option" could be used to break a filibuster, by simply having the Chair falsely declare that further debate is out of order. Then, according to this false idea, the decision of the Chair could be sustained by a simple majority. And thus a Standing Rule of the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote to amend, could be subverted by a false ruling sustained by a simple majority. The very concept is absurd on its face, as I have explained in my article located at
http://www.loveallpeople.org/nuclearoptionisabluff.html
And any nomination confirmed by such a tainted process would surely be rejected by the Court, if challenged.
Today you begin a full and open debate on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States, in violation of a direct order from President Bush, who had instructed you to give him a "prompt up-or-down vote," by which he meant a Rubber-Stamp approval of Judge Alito, without question or debate. Please see
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060114.html )
If it had been possible to get the sixty votes needed to bypass debate and go straight to a vote, I'm sure he would have instructed you to do that, in order to avoid any annoying questions about his choice of Alito. But sadly for him, the votes were not there, and now you are heading into what he had hoped to avoid: a full and open debate on the suitability of Samuel Alito for this vitally-important lifetime job.
But wait a minute! Why does he feel he can order you to do anything? How can he presume to instruct you in any matter whatsoever? Why should you take orders from him? He is the President - the Administrator, not the King, because we have no King, thank God. You are the Senate - maker of laws, along with the House Of Representatives. He is obligated to follow and enforce whatever laws you may enact, whether he agrees with them or not. He cannot obligate you to do anything. You can remove him from office; he cannot remove you. He should be kissing your ring, not you kissing his. If you doubt these facts, please re-read the Constitution, a copy of which is located here:
http://www.patriot.net/users/bmcgin/usconstitutiona.txt
The mere fact that he felt entitled to issue this command to you should have alerted you to the fact that our President is dangerously deluded about his Constitutional role in our Government.
Here's a secret, which you have not yet discovered: President Bush is not your friend. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, he is not your friend, because he is not a friend of the Senate. Yes, he smiles at you, when you (needlessly) obey him. And he bestows his Presidential favors on those whom he chooses. And he frowns and makes trouble for those who displease him. But he is not your friend; he is just using you to get what he really wants: more power. He wants "Unitary Executive" Power, which means he wants to be in charge of everything the Federal Government actually does. Everything! It is okay for the Congress to express its opinion in the form of "Laws." And it is okay for the Supreme Court to express its opinions in the form of "Decisions." But neither of these are binding on the President, the Leader, "Der Fuehrer," according to the Unitary Executive Theory. They are merely advisory, because only the Leader has the actual authority, according to this dangerous, radical Theory. For more details, please see
http://www.UnitaryExecutive.net
And now we turn to Samuel Alito, the nomination before you:
Yes, it is true that Samuel Alito has an excellent knowledge of the Law. as he understands it to be. This is a necessary condition for him to be on the Court, but it alone is not sufficient.
And yes, it is true that his friends and co-workers and his peers seem to think he is a wonderful fellow in all respects: honest, fair, modest, respectful courteous, etc. And that is nice, but it alone is not sufficient to place him on the Court.
And yes, it is true that he has a long-standing, deep belief that Roe v Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned. (Parenthetically, I agree with Alito on this: it is very weak law, wrongly decided, built on legal sand. Furthermore, if Roe v Wade is allowed to stand, it will eventually be used to legalize prostitution, drug use, polygamy, and child pornography, all on the basis of the supposed "Privacy Right.") And this belief, alone is probably the decisive factor for many Senators. If he is legally smart, approved by his peers, and wants to overturn Roe v Wade, that is all they need to know. "Approve him!" they exclaim. "We must not murder any more unborn children!" His position on this issue, coupled with his other qualifications, makes him so desirable to some Senators, that they cannot see beyond it. And they do not want to be denied having Samuel Alito on the Court, no matter what else may be wrong with him. Their rationality has been over-ruled by their emotions.
But there is one tragic flaw in Samuel Alito. And this one tragic flaw absolutely disqualifies him for a position on our Supreme Court. And this one flaw is that he is a long-time enthusiastic Champion of the dangerous, radical, unconstitutional "Unitary Executive Theory." This Theory strongly asserts that the President is the rightful holder of all Executive power in our Government, and as such should have total control over everything done by the Executive branch, the military, all administrative agencies, and all other functions, other than advisory functions, which are done by the Federal Government.
These ideas result in a Dictator, or a King, not a President as we know it in our system. And any person who supports this theory cannot possibly be supporting our Constitution, and is therefore unqualified to be on the Supreme Court, or to hold any other Federal office.
Therefore I urge you to reject the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Blessings to you. May God help us all. And may God bless America!
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director
http://www.LoveAllPeople.org
and http://www.InternetchurchOfChrist.org
Contact Information:
LoveAllPeople.org
William McGinnis
Tel:
Email us
This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.
LoveAllPeople.org
William McGinnis
Tel:
Email us
This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.
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