Ayotte and the PEOPLE
The U.S. Supreme Court dogged me. While I was spending two nights drafting my next post on the pending Court case Ayotte v. Planned Childlessness of New Hampshire, the Court issued an opinion on it and rendered my draft useless. Well, all but the opening paragraph and the last three sentences.
First, the opening paragraph:
The PEOPLE make laws. U.S. Supreme Court Justices do not determine whether to outlaw abortion or not; legislatures and chief executives of a state or country do that by making laws. The U.S. Supreme Court merely determines whether laws are constitutional or not. I'm pro-life; I'd support laws that would ban abortion (read: protect innocent human life) in all instances except the acute health risk to the mother. Rape? Incest? If I were the only person voting, you're having the baby. If I'd support all abortion bans, then short of that, I'd support all limitations and restrictions on abortion should abortion remain a sanctioned activity by the State. I'd support parental notification laws, I'd certainly support bans on partial birth abortion, I'd make sure that those that performed abortions were as trained, licensed and monitored as any other "health care" provider (quotes around "health care" for the obvious ironic reasons). The only way any laws banning abortion (protecting innocent human life) would come to pass were if the PEOPLE passed them. (End of opening paragraph with no additional edits.)
Excerpts from Justice O'Connor's opinion on Ayotte that was unanimously joined by the Court, "First, States unquestionably have the right to require parental involvement when a minor considers terminating her pregnancy . . . we (the Court) try not to nullify more of the legislature's work than is necessary, for we know that '[a] ruling on unconstitutionality frustrates the intent of the elected representatives of the people' . . . mindful that our constitutional mandate and institutional competence are limited, we restrain ourselves from 'rewrit[ing] state law to conform it to constitutional requirements' . . . but making distinctions in a murky constitutional context or where line-drawing is inherently complex, may call for a 'far more serious invasion of the legislative domain' than we ought to undertake . . . the touchstone for any decision about remedy is legislative intent, for a court cannot 'use its remedial powers to circumvent the intent of the legislature' . . . so long as they are faithful to legislative intent, then, in this case the lower courts can issue a declaratory judgment and an injunction prohibiting the statute's unconstitutional application . . . ."
The last three sentences of my useless draft:
If you think the PEOPLE make laws, support the confirmation of judges that trust you.
Of course, I support the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito and not because I think he's pro-life. I support Judge Alito because I think he thinks WE make the laws. (End of last three sentences with no additional edits.)
The U.S. Supreme Court dogged me. While I was spending two nights drafting my next post on the pending Court case Ayotte v. Planned Childlessness of New Hampshire, the Court issued an opinion on it and rendered my draft useless. Well, all but the opening paragraph and the last three sentences.
First, the opening paragraph:
The PEOPLE make laws. U.S. Supreme Court Justices do not determine whether to outlaw abortion or not; legislatures and chief executives of a state or country do that by making laws. The U.S. Supreme Court merely determines whether laws are constitutional or not. I'm pro-life; I'd support laws that would ban abortion (read: protect innocent human life) in all instances except the acute health risk to the mother. Rape? Incest? If I were the only person voting, you're having the baby. If I'd support all abortion bans, then short of that, I'd support all limitations and restrictions on abortion should abortion remain a sanctioned activity by the State. I'd support parental notification laws, I'd certainly support bans on partial birth abortion, I'd make sure that those that performed abortions were as trained, licensed and monitored as any other "health care" provider (quotes around "health care" for the obvious ironic reasons). The only way any laws banning abortion (protecting innocent human life) would come to pass were if the PEOPLE passed them. (End of opening paragraph with no additional edits.)
Excerpts from Justice O'Connor's opinion on Ayotte that was unanimously joined by the Court, "First, States unquestionably have the right to require parental involvement when a minor considers terminating her pregnancy . . . we (the Court) try not to nullify more of the legislature's work than is necessary, for we know that '[a] ruling on unconstitutionality frustrates the intent of the elected representatives of the people' . . . mindful that our constitutional mandate and institutional competence are limited, we restrain ourselves from 'rewrit[ing] state law to conform it to constitutional requirements' . . . but making distinctions in a murky constitutional context or where line-drawing is inherently complex, may call for a 'far more serious invasion of the legislative domain' than we ought to undertake . . . the touchstone for any decision about remedy is legislative intent, for a court cannot 'use its remedial powers to circumvent the intent of the legislature' . . . so long as they are faithful to legislative intent, then, in this case the lower courts can issue a declaratory judgment and an injunction prohibiting the statute's unconstitutional application . . . ."
The last three sentences of my useless draft:
If you think the PEOPLE make laws, support the confirmation of judges that trust you.
Of course, I support the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito and not because I think he's pro-life. I support Judge Alito because I think he thinks WE make the laws. (End of last three sentences with no additional edits.)
posted by Zack at 8:23 PM
1 Comments:
Great blog I hope we can work to build a better health care system as we are in a major crisis and health insurance is a major aspect to many.
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