Limits on all three branches of the federal government are set forth in the United States Constitution. The limits neither favor any one person or groups of persons since the provisions for government apply equally to all citizens and the government officials are duty bound to follow the limits. But those limits are no better than the people who take oaths to defend and uphold the Constitution. When the limits on government are not followed, then the rights of the people as whole are left in tatters. The Supreme Court is guilty of shredding the Constitution, having done so for many years to favor certain groups.

On Monday, June 17, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled against the Arizona proof of citizenship requirement for those registering to vote. Essentially the court ruled that Arizona had to follow the Motor Voter registration form since it only asked if the registrant was a citizen; no proof required that the prospective voter was indeed a citizen who could legally vote. But the court ignored several facts in order to reach its unconstitutional ruling.

One, there is nothing in the Constitution that gives Congress any authority to create election laws beyond Article I, Section IV The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. Note that the states set the rules; but Congress can alter such laws and such laws have to refer to the time, places and manner. Such is an adjective which means of particular kind: of the kind mentioned or understood from the context. The kind mentioned or understood is the context of the time, places and manner.

Two, Justice Scalia ignored the 9th and 10^th Amendments in his zeal to rewrite the Constitution by adding the plain language of Article I, Section IV by adding the registration issue. Never mind, that federal voter registration law is unconstitutional in the first place. The third fact overlooked is that Congress cannot amend the Constitution by making laws which is what they did with federal laws and the Federal Election Commission.

The voter registration ruling relied on unconstitutional laws for its foundation, totally ignoring Article IV, Clause II which specifically states that all laws must be made pursuit to the Constitution. That means all laws must conform to the requirements of the Constitution and if they do not, the states are not bound to the ruling. (Research the founders for that fact.) In view of the fact that the Court ignored the sovereignty of Arizona, they chopped the right of the people to control state elections through their elected officials.

Also on the same Monday, the court ruled that a person being investigated and possibly subject to arrest could have their silence used against them. So if the person doesn’t talk, the silence is tantamount to confessing to the offense. The court ruled in the case before them that the defendant didn’t “formally” invoke a constitutional right. As Tim Brown, the author of the article correctly stated, “Nothing in the Fifth Amendment says anything about “invoking” anything. It merely affirms people have the right to remain silent.” So if a suspect remains quiet for whatever reason, the presumption of innocence is effectively destroyed. It puts an innocent person, as well as a legitimate suspect, in the untenable position of having to explain why they remained silent; by so doing they are testifying against themselves which the 5th Amendment expressly says they do not have to do, the exact words being nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,….

For the last 80 years the Constitution has been increasingly ignored by all three branches of the government. Those in power only follow it when it is to their advantage; otherwise they do as they please and treat the document like worthless trash. Those who cheer such behavior need to realize that while the rulings may give them false benefits them for a short while, eventually their so called victories will one day be taken away by more unconstitutional rulings. What the government gives, it can and will take away at some point. The Constitution was written to prevent the government from intruding on God given rights. The Supreme Court rulings not only intrude on those God given rights, but eviscerate those rights that blood, sweat and tears of the founders gave to the people of the republic and which the Constitution is supposed to protect.

© 06-19-2013 DEC