The American Spectator

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Soto-may-or May Not Be a Disaster

6.5.09 @ 6:01AM

BACK TO PRINCETON WITH YOU
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Sotomayor's Flawed Reasoning:

Well done again, Mr. Tyrrell.

Machiavelli would have agreed with you: "Men not accustomed to the affairs of this world often make the greatest mistakes."

I refer you also to Max Lerner's perceptive observation: "The most destructive imperialisms of the world have been those of men who have elevated their preferences to the pinnacle of moral imperative and who have then confidently proceeded to impose those imperatives on others."
-- A. C. Santore

The logical end point to this concept of a living Constitution as put forth by supporters inside and outside the Judiciary is to make the court the sole arbiter of government. What would be the functional purpose of the other two branches if the court both defines what words in the Constitution mean by ever changing standards and creates the laws based upon what it says those words mean? The simple answer is none.  

The framers and founders of this republican form of government spent quiet a few years trying to hash out a way to keep this republic from going the same way as 3500 years of failure at self rule had before. The late unpleasantness between 1776 and 1781 with the supremacist better half in England had just a bit of bearing on their thoughts. Technically, we fought a war against what was then considered a representative government of the time with an elected parliamentary-style structure married at the hip to a divine right (supremacist) king. That we are basically the sole form of non parliamentary self-rule in the world today seems lost on the populace.

Borrowing a phrase from the movie "Patriot," "what is the difference between a tyrant 3000 miles away and 3000 tyrants one mile away?" I would ask simply this: what is the difference between 9 unelected and unaccountable life tenure justices that define what the Constitution says, make laws based upon that directing others to carry out their dictates and one tyrant with absolute powers in a fiction known as the parliamentary form of government?

The answer is eight more paychecks those that pay the tax burden have to bear.  

As a nation we are standing on a very narrow pinnacle in the midst of a very wide and deep abyss desperately looking for a place we can jump off without injuring ourselves…too much.

For Sonia's sake she should pray she never needs the assistance of the Fire Department…
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

LEWIS CARROLL JURISPRUDENCE
Re: Peter Ferrara's Sonia the Player Umpire:

Sonia Through the Looking Glass.

To paraphrase Humpty Dumpty: A law means what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less. The question is...which is to be master -- that's all.
-- Gretchen L. Chellson
Alexandria, Virginia

According to Sotomayor, via Frank, the law is "uncertain, indefinite, (and) subject to incalculable changes." If the laws of the universe followed such logic, creation would not have been possible and existence would cease to be. Putting aside that nature demands stability, what Sotomayor believes and practices is hubris, not law.  When God gave man free will, He gave up an infinitesimal portion of His absolute power. He could always remove this gift from humanity, but He could not do so righteously. Case in point, when God was confronted by Lot about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, God put law and justice above His power. God could have destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah and Lot without pause, but God allowed Lot to learn a difficult lesson about human nature. Sotomayor puts herself above what God allows; with her "empathy" and Latina experience, she believes she has the right to rule arbitrarily: "The public expects the law to be static and predictable. The law, however, is uncertain and responds to changing circumstances." The expectation was given to us by God through His word and works. Sotomayor in her arrogance, if confirmed, will erode, case by case, the stability of law and justice.  The Senate may confirm Sotomayor, but if they do, they may eventually find themselves in a land without law. In the words of Hosea, "They sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind."
-- I.M. Kessel

Letter to the Editor