[Winona Online Democracy] Several regular contributors of the GOP persuasion have responded to my contention that a celebration of the U. S. Supreme Court's election decision seems to be somewhat at odds with their dogma of States' Rights. As I understand the gist of the argument, their perception is that The Court actually supported States' Rights, because it supported Florida's right to legislate state election procedures. So States' Rights is narrowly defined as being about State Legislatures' Rights. Justice Stevens' dissent (joined by Ginsburg and Breyer) addresses just this point! The Federal Constitution "does not create state legislatures out of whole cloth, but rather takes them as they come--as creatures born of, and constrained by, their state constitutions." "When questions arise about the meaning of state laws, including election laws, it is our settled practice to accept the opinions of the highest courts of the States as providing the final answers." Citing a 100 year precedent, he points out that "we also observed that 'the State's legislative power is the supreme authority except as limited by the constitution of the State.' The legislative power in Florida is subject to judicial review pursuant to Article V of the Florida Constitution, and nothing in Article II of the Federal Constitution frees the state legislature from the contraints in the state constitution that created it." In other words, States' Rights really pertains to the rule of (state) law and (state) Constitution in each state, not just to the state legislature in a vacuum. The Florida Constitution gives the Florida Supreme Court the role of judicial review and interpretation. The recent 5-4 decision in question takes away the Florida Court's constitutionally mandated responsibility. Sure sounds like the Federal Court is doing that "activist" thing which usually raises conservative hackles. But this time it's ok! I realize there are strong arguments on both sides as to what did or didn't, should or shouldn't have happened in Florida. I just wanted to point out that I don't think the conservative veneration of States' Rights is as pure or consistent as is usually stated. At least that's the way it looks to me, and one reason why I'm not going to be embracing any time soon the predictable calls to "put all this mess behind us and move on." Move on, sure, but it doesn't make the whole thing any more legitimate in my book. Scott Lowery 461 Sunnyview Drive, Rollingstone MN 55969 home phone: (507)689-4532 school phone: (507)453-3888 home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] school email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Albert Einstein "You can fool too many of the people too much of the time." James Thurber ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
