The Supreme Law of the Land

Farkel

Folks, I almost feel silly creating this thread, but I think I must do it based upon comments by folks who think the various governments in the USA can make any legally enforceable laws they want.

They cannot!

In the USA we have a Republic. We do not have a democracy. There is a huge difference and that huge difference favors a Republic. In our Republic, we have a Constitution, a supreme document, a document that is over, trumps, overrules ANY and all contrary laws that are passed in Congress, the States and all the little bullshit communities in the States and any little bullshit laws they pass that violate the laws in the Constitution.

Our Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and NOTHING passed by ANY government in the USA is above it. The only exception is an amendment to it, and that is very difficult to achieve.

The only worry we should have is if some law is passed that violates the powers given by the Constitution and no one does anything about it. If that happens enough times, the Constitution is just a piece of paper, and our Liberties are lost.

Farkel

N.drew

That sounds serious

dgp

Coming from a region of the world where constitutions are almost as numerous as the descendants of Jacob, to Farkel's excellent remark I may only add that one of the great virtues of America is the fact that Americans do react to violations of the democratic spirit. It is when citizens fail to stand up to abuses that even the best constitution is useless.

I think it was Alexis de Tocqueville who said that for evil to be done the times must lend themselves to the committal of that evil. Americans do not lend themselves much to antidemocratic stuff. It has always been one of your great virtues, and I hope that is how it will always be.

sabastious

Wrong! The Bible is the supreme law of the land! Where's my slaves bitches!

-Sab

journey-on

Amen, Brother Farkel! But just like hundreds of so-called Christian religions take the same book, the Bible, and interpret it according to what they think it says, the Constitution is played with by lawyers, activist judges, AND policymakers. THE PEOPLE have to stay vigilant.

AGuest

NOTHING passed by ANY government in the USA is above it.

Oh, uhhh, oooh, I have to disagree with you, dear Daddy-O (the greatest of love and peace to you, dear one!). And I base that on a discussion I recently had with a very smart attorney from Napa, California. She was incensed over what she deemed to be a very "stupid" decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court (which I cannot recall, just now)... that defined the U.S. Constitution. She said most in the legal field were appalled. Well, dumb ME, I asked her how that could be, wasn't the Constitution the "supreme law"?

She looked at me and shook her head and said (in so many words):

"Shelb, if you don't learn anything else, you MUST learn that the courts and judges who sit on them are the "supreme" law... with the Supreme Court at the top. They can opine/vote... and justify their opinons/votes... any way they want to. All they have to do is interpret the Constitution... and/or other laws... however they wish... and then issue their basis for such. Is their basis always in line with the Constitution? Of course, not. Which is why you can also have dissenting votes/opinions. If the Constitution literally was supreme law... there would never have been any STATE laws regarding things such as interracial/same sex marriage, abortion, etc. The Constitution, as written, provides that marriage is a FUNDAMENTAL right. Doesn't break it down into who it applies to or what constitutes marriage. Yet, many were/have been denied that right."

And so, I have to agree with her, dear one: true, the Constitution is SUPPOSED to be the supreme law... and many claim that it is... but the REALITY is that law is either what Congress, the courts, state legislatures, etc. deem it to be. And sometimes such laws fly in the very face of the Constitution.

I once thought exactly as you did on this... and apparently my dogmatism on it was standing in my way.

I'll back out, now... and, again, peace to you!

YOUR servant, dear friend, and a slave of Christ,

SA

I quit!

Shelby, I'm wondering if you are thinking of Citizens United ruling which in 2010 declared that not only are corporations persons but that they have constitutional rights such as free speech. That one for good reason got a lot of people very angry.

AnneB

Not "of the land", but "of the nation". They claim the land but have no right.

Berengaria

The constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the
judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please. It should be
remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any
government is independent, is absolute also; in theory only, at first, while the spirit of
the people is up, but in practice, as fast as that relaxes.

Thomas Jefferson 1819 letter to Judge Roane

AGuest

That doesn't sound familiar, dear IQ (peace to you!)... and the ruling was something that occurred this past summer (2011). I most probably won't look it up, but if I remember (or someone else throws it out there), I'll certainly post it.

Peace!

SA, on her own... and who meant to type "defied" the U.S. Constitution, sorry...

The Supreme Law of the Land

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