An end to judicial tyranny?(The Last Word)

The passage of the Pledge Protection Act of 2004 (H.R. 2028) by the U.S. House of Representatives on September 21 by a vote of 247-173 has highlighted some very encouraging signs in Congress. And I do not simply mean that the Pledge of Allegiance would be protected, though that is a good thing as well.

H.R. 2028 states: "No court created by Act of Congress shall have jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide" cases pertaining to the Pledge of Allegiance. This bill, along with a related, earlier House-passed measure known as the Marriage Protection Act of 2004 (H.R. 3313), has prompted a few congressmen to dust off and read their copy of the U.S. Constitution.

It's always a good thing when you can get congressmen to look at the Constitution, especially when so many of them routinely vote for unconstitutional legislation.

The Pledge Protection Act was introduced alter the U.S. Supreme Court struck down on a technicality the case of Newdow v. U.S. Congress, a suit charging that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Like the Marriage Protection Act, which the House passed on July 22, the Pledge Protection Act would invoke the power of Congress to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court--and, by extension, the jurisdiction of all other federal courts--under Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

Ordinarily, congressional committee reports are the perfect antidote for insomnia. But in the case of the House Judiciary Committee Report on the Marriage Protection Act, the repartee recorded in the report is both instructive and encouraging.

Ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-Mich.), a radical leftist fixture in Congress for decades, railed against the legislation, claiming that "this statute is itself unconstitutional." Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) countered that it "is obvious to anyone who actually reads the Constitution that Congress can do this." Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution reads, in part: "The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make."

Conyers asked if Hostettler had seen any "research brought to his attention that we would limit any application for appellate review." Hostettler's reply was simple and direct: "The main body of research I have done is to read the Constitution of the United States."