How would Rick's theory explain Republican support for decisions
striking down parts of the Brady Bill (Printz), the Violence Against
Women Act (Morrison), and law protecting kids from guns in schools
(Lopez). Seems like Republicans were using the courts to defeat social
policies they did not like that passed Congress and were signed into
law by the President.
And, what position do you have, Rick, on the desire of some Republicans
to not merely reverse Roe, but declare that abortion violates the 14th
Amendment and thus the many states which protect a woman's right
control her own body are unconstitutional? I assume you would oppose
such a decision, right?
Paul Finkelman.
Rick Duncan wrote:
"Scarberry, Mark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Put another way, Republicans believe they have at least as good a
claim as
Democrats to being committed to democratic principles; given their view
that
Democrats wish to use nondemocratic courts to overturn democratic
decisions
on matters such as abortion and gay marriage, Republicans see
themselves as
more democratic than Democrats.
Mark makes a good point about which party has the better claim to being
more "democratic." The Democratic Party has become the party of
government by the judiciary, the party that can't get its social agenda
enacted in legislatures, and so looks to judical decrees codifying its
policy preferences instead.
And this brings up another word--"theocrats"--that gets used a
lot these days to describe citizens of faith who vote for Republican
candidates such as the President. This is another term that better fits
the other party and the actual way it governs. A government that allows
all of its citizens--including its religious citizens--to participate
in the political process is not a theocracy. A theocracy is government
by a small body of unelected--usually robed--rulers who issue decrees
based upon their personal pipeline to a higher and unseen authority.
Sounds a lot like the priesthood we call the Supreme Court, a body of
unelected lawyers issuing decrees from the sacred precincts of its
chambers.
Rick
Rick Duncan
Welpton Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or
Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
numbered." --The Prisoner
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________
To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, OK 74105
918-631-3706 (voice)
918-631-2194 (fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
_______________________________________________
To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see
http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.
Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can
read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the
messages to others.
