As Professor Soundman and I discussed last night, the reason the U.S. Constitution works so beautifully has less to do with its content than its Newtonian structure (checks, balances, weights, measures, triangulation and Classical proportions applied to the structure of government).
As noted here last week, the sages of the U.S. House of Representatives think they have a better idea: two branches of government, not three, with the legislature determining the outcome of law suits that would, under the unrevised document, have been in the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In other words, the House has declared the Congress to be the determinant of whether the laws Congress itself makes are Constitutional. Kind of revolutionary, don't you think? (Not to mention unconstitutional.)
At issue is a bill that passed the House last night: the Pledge of Allegiance Protection bill, which according to its summary (scroll to bottom) on Thomas.gov, "amends the Federal judicial code to deny jurisdiction to any court established by Act of Congress to hear or determine any claim that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance violates the first amendment of the Constitution."
Since the bill is not expected to pass the Senate, it is being treated as no big deal. But the fact that one chamber of Congress went for the dismantling of our structure of government should send a chill down the spine of every freedom-loving person in the nation.
This legislation was brought to your cyberscribe's attention by National Journal's Earlybird alert service. Here's the Associated Press report.
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