The American Spectator

p> SHINING BRIGHT br> House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi is known amongst even her Democratic colleagues as one of the less cerebral members of the House. But even her staff was stunned by her seeming inability to understand the recent Kelo Supreme Court ruling regarding governmental property seizures. /p>

“We briefed her on it. She seemed to ask questions as though she understood it, but clearly she didn’t,” says a Boxer adviser on Capitol Hill. “How else to explain it?”

Indeed. When asked about Kelo and its implications, as well as moves afoot by some Republicans in both houses to negate the ruling, perhaps by barring use of federal funds on projects that involved the state or local taking of land, Pelosi responded thusly:

“It is a decision of the Supreme Court. If Congress wants to change it, it will require legislation of a level of a constitutional amendment. So this is almost as if God has spoken. It’s an elementary discussion now. They have made the decision.”

Later, she insisted: “Again, without focusing on the actual decision, just to say that when you withhold funds from enforcing a decision of the Supreme Court you are, in fact, nullifying a decision of the Supreme Court. This is in violation of the respect for separation of church — powers in our Constitution, church and state as well. Sometimes the Republicans have a problem with that as well. But forgive my digression.”

“All I can say is wow,” says a Republican leadership staffer. “To say anything else would just undercut the impact her remarks have had up here.”

Even after the press remarks, Pelosi, according to other Democratic staffers, didn’t seem to understand what the fuss was all about. “She was oblivious. She really thought she had a handle on some basic ideas about the Supreme Court, the way Congress works with the rulings of the court,” says a Democratic leadership staffer. “A generation of ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ gets this and she doesn’t? Her staff should be ashamed of itself for putting her out there.”

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