by Diane Rufino, January 25, 2018
I just wrote an article explaining the doctrine of Interposition and how vital a remedy it is against federal tyranny. (“Interposition: The Duty to Say “NO!”). In that article, I wrote: “Our challenge is to stand up as a people, and as individual States, to the government officials, the government bodies, and yes, even federal judges who are violating, ignoring, eroding, or otherwise re-interpreting the Constitution our Bill of Rights. Each unconstitutional act usurps the powers delegated or reserved to the People and the States. Nature’s Law supersedes man’s law. Every failure to resist the tyranny posed by an unconstitutional act tightens the noose around freedom’s neck.”
Explaining Interposition, I wrote
Since the Tenth Amendment cannot enforce itself, interposition is one of the doctrines that allows the States and the People to stand up for the rights that are reserved to them. Right now, the federal government has a monopoly over the meaning and scope of its powers. Congress makes the laws, the president signs the laws and enforces then, and the courts review them for constitutionality. It wasn’t always this way. The federal courts were originally only supposed to render an “opinion” to the other branches. They were to take that opinion under advisement and amend the particular law or alter their conduct. The “check” that the “opinion” offered was that it was public; once the States found out the opinion, as sovereigns and as the co-parties to the compact known as the US Constitution, they always had the option to nullify and refuse to enforce a law or policy that the court deemed as unconstitutional. But the judicial branch made sure that its power was much more substantial than rendering a mere opinion. The federal monopoly was established when Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the Marbury v. Madison opinion in 1803. Essentially the decision asserts that the Supreme Court is the tribunal tasked with interpreting the Constitution and as such, it’s “opinions” are not really “opinions” at all but binding decisions. Whatever the men in robes decide is the meaning and the intent of the Constitution IS the meaning and intent and its decisions are final and binding.
But rights and liberties are never secure when men and women have the power to interpret while also being motivated by political opinions, personal passions, etc. The Tenth Amendment MUST not be left to the federal government monopoly to ignore or re-interpret as it sees fit.
The remedy always available to those who hold the reserved powers is interposition – to recognize that certain acts are unconstitutional and exceed delegated powers (and hence are null and void and legally unenforceable) and then to take the necessary steps to make sure that they are NOT enforced. To allow them to be enforced is allowing government usurpation.
We saw an act of Interposition in 2010 or so when the state of Arizona took on the federal government. The Arizona state government was fed up with the fact that the Obama administration refused to enforce immigration laws. The State was being overly burdened by illegal immigration and without enforcement of federal laws or even an immigration policy, the problem was increasingly getting worse. So, the Arizona legislature passed a law giving its state law enforcement powers to determine which immigrants were undocumented and to require employers to do the same in the hiring process (e-verify). Without the ability to work in the state or to be free of law enforcement checks, perhaps the immigrants would leave. The Arizona legislature and Governor Jan Brewer interposed for the benefit of their citizens and for the proper functioning of the State. Quickly, however, Obama sued the State. How dare it interpose.
And then we saw the case of Judge Roy Moore in Arkansas. He dared to stand up to judicial tyranny.
It’s been a sad several years in America. Several decades actually. For 8 years, we had a president whose approach to government was that if he didn’t get what he wanted, “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone.” When he didn’t get amnesty for illegals (The Dream Act), he acted by Executive Order to establish the DACA program (which is temporary amnesty for illegals, ages 18 and younger, brought to the US by their parents). It was UNCONSTITUTIONAL. He created a law which is the sole domain of the legislative branch. In fact, his action went directly against the actions of the legislature since Congress would not pass the Dream Act. He misled – no, LIED – to the American people with the Affordable Care Act, which eventually became law as a new tax. The law is UNCONSTIUTTIONAL as exceeding the bounds of the taxing power (the mandate is a “punishment” for not signing up for Obamacare and that is one of the classifications that the taxing power is not allowed to be used for). He refused to allow the federal government to enforce DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), claiming that marriage is between any two consenting people, even same-sex. The Supreme Court would rule that the States have no right or power to define marriage narrowly so as to only be between a man and a woman. In other words, the Court handed down an UNCONSTITUTIONAL opinion by usurping a traditional power reserved to the States by the Tenth Amendment. Similarly, Obama threatened and attempted to coerce the states of North Carolina over bathrooms according to biological gender. He said that civil rights law would be “interpreted” (even though there was no court history to back him up and the law includes clear definitions) to include protection for transgenders in the term “it is unlawful to discriminate against an individual because of his or her sex.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted “To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC), and for other purposes.” (intro of the bill). The Act provides that “It is unlawful to exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
In the definition section of the Act, it provides: “(k) The terms “because of sex” or “on the basis of sex” include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions…”
Obama used the IRS to subdue the voice of Tea Party and other conservative groups by not allowing them to form into organizations and therefore participate in elections, he obstructed justice on too many matters to list here, and colluded with the DNC and Hillary Clinton and her campaign to use the full powers of the federal government to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. His disdain for the US Constitution, for the Rule of Law, and for the rightful role of government was so palpable that the Tea Party arose. In fact, judging by the turn-out and the energy in 2016 and the election of Trump, it is abundantly clear that the American people are, at heart, Tea Partiers. They want limited government. But yet the media and the liberal left (the no-brainers) are still willing to give Obama a pass on all his acts of absolute tyranny.
We have Senator Chuck Schumer who intentionally shut down the government over a matter that nothing to do with the government funding bill and over a class of individuals who have no legal recognition in this country nor claim to protection under any of our laws. We have Nancy Pelosi who admits not only that she shouldn’t have to actually read a bill before signing it but that the Constitution means nothing to her. As if ignorance wasn’t her only defining characteristic, she also had the absolute gall to refer to a major tax cut for middle class Americans (one that has real meaning and real tangible benefits to most Americans) as “crumbs” (because, after all, we aren’t as wealthy as her – ie, we all didn’t have the opportunity to enrich ourselves while serving in office, AND we don’t have a government slush fund to cover our expenses) and to take all House Democrats out to a swanky Italian feast to celebrate the fact that they had just stopped paying our men and women serving in uniform, including at the dangerous Mexican border. And we have Rep. Maxine Waters who uses her office NOT to serve in the capacity she was elected to but rather to cry “racism” at every chance she gets, to continually label the president as racist, incompetent, rude, etc and to try to have him impeached on these unimpeachable claims. We have other representatives also so colossally incompetent, useless, and reckless.
But Judge Moore, a man who singlehandedly stood up to judicial tyranny and tried to set the Constitution right, is vilified. A man like him was not elected to DC. Democrats want Obama back, and in fact, they wanted someone worse (more corrupt) – Hillary Clinton. But Judge Moore was not suitable.
Just how did Judge Roy Moore interpose? In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was added to the US Constitution. I did not write “In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed” because it never did legally pass. And it wasn’t an amendment as much as it was “punishment” for the Southern states. The North forced it on the subjugated southern states. In fact, the amendment is not legitimate at all under the required process outlined in Article V. But for a moment, let’s suppose that it was. The amendment was intended as a codification of the Civil Rights Law at the time, the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, enacted on April 9, 1866, was the first federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. It was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of persons of African descent born in or brought to the U.S., in the wake of the American Civil War. In other words, it was intended to over-ride the portion of the Dred Scott decision of 1857 that said that persons of African descent (all blacks) were never intended to be citizens and therefore could not be so, and as such were not entitled to the protections of the US Constitution. The Civil Rights Act was actually enacted by Congress in 1865 but was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866, Congress again passed the bill as a companion to, and in support of, the Thirteenth Amendment. Although President Johnson again vetoed it, a two-thirds majority in each chamber overcame the veto and the bill became law. Rep. John Bingham (R-OH) and some other congressmen argued that Congress did not yet have sufficient constitutional power to enact this law and then the idea came to memorialize the Civil Rights Act in constitutional amendment form and force the former confederate states to ratify it (as a condition to being re-admitted to the Union. Note, they had been admitted to the Union implicitly by including them in the ratification process for the Thirteenth Amendment. But then they were “kicked out” again for the sole purpose of conditioning their re- re-entry on ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment !!]
So, assume the Fourteenth Amendment’s purpose (stated purpose in fact) was to provide citizenship for the newly-freed slaves and to recognize that as citizens, they also have the same rights and privileges as every other US citizen and they are entitled to equal protection under the laws. When the slaves were freed, the North wanted to make sure that the South couldn’t tacitly continue to treat them as slaves by denying them the rights and privileges necessary to assume an equal and meaningful place in society. Secretly, the North just wanted to make sure the freed slaves stayed in the South. The Supreme Court, however, found a way to use this amendment to usurp the original meaning of the Bill of Rights and to strip the States of their powers. Beginning in the 1920s, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to “incorporate” most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments.
Prior to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the “Incorporation doctrine,” the Supreme Court in 1833 held in Barron v. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal, but not any state governments. Even years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank (1876) still held that the First and Second Amendments did not apply to state governments. [See Richard Aynes’ law journal article on the meaning and intent of the Fourteenth Amendment]. But the temptation to strip the States of its ability to remain free from the constraints of the Bill of Rights was too great. And little by little, areas historically reserved to the States to regulate have been taken away by nine men in black robes.
For example, with respect to the First Amendment: The guarantee against an Establishment of Religion was incorporated against the States in 1947 (Everson v. Board of Education – the infamous “Wall of Separation” case); the guarantee of one’s Free Exercise of Religion was incorporated against the States in 1940 (Cantwell v. Connecticut); the guarantee of Freedom of Speech was incorporated in 1925 (Gitlow v. New York); the guarantee of Freedom of the Press was incorporated in 1931 (Near v. Minnesota); the guarantee of Freedom of Assembly was incorporated in 1937 (DeJonge v. Oregon); and the guarantee of the Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances was incorporated against the States in 1963 (Edwards v. South Carolina). Now, most Americans might think that it’s a good thing to guarantee that the States can’t infringe these essential liberty rights, but history has shown that the Supreme Court has actually stripped individuals of their rights to self-governance in their States and localities by the Incorporation Doctrine. The federal courts are using it to establish a one-size fits all model across the United States. Each state will feel, and BE the same. There used to be the notion that each state had their own “character,” their own social environment and their conditions of living, as determined by those who live in that “backyard.” And those who don’t like the character or condition of their “backyard” are free to move to a state that is more to their liking. State borders are supposed to mean more than mere physical boundaries and confines of legal jurisdiction.
Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore understood the unconstitutionality of the Incorporation Doctrine. He understood the decisions amounted to judicial over-reach and judicial tyranny. And so, in 2001, when the first of two lawsuits was brought demanding that he take down the a 5,280-pound (2,400 kg) block of granite with the Ten Commandments engraved on it, which was placed in front of the Alabama state courthouse, he stood his ground. In the case Glassroth v. Moore (Fed District Court, 2003) [and the companion case Maddox and Howard v. Moore], the court agreed with the plaintiffs, lawyers who were concerned that their clients might feel they would not be treated fairly if they didn’t agree with the Judeo-Christian tenets, and held that the statue is an impermissible establishment of religion, violates the First Amendment as incorporated against the state of Alabama by the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore had to be removed. Judge Moore refused. He appealed to the Federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit but the panel of judges affirmed the lower court decision. Again Judge Moore refused to take the statue down. If the federal government wanted to erase any connection to the Ten Commandments at any federal court because God forbid it might convince someone that the government is establishing a national religion, then that was within the government’s right. But according to Moore, if the state of Alabama wanted to have the Ten Commandments at their courthouse to remind them “of a higher law,” to remind them of the moral foundation of law, and to also remind them of the provision including in the very preamble to the state constitution “that in order to establish justice we must invoke ‘the favor and guidance of almighty God,’” it had the right to do so under the rightful interpretation of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, including the Fourteenth Amendment.
The other judges of the Alabama Supreme Court finally stepped in and had the statue taken away from the courthouse, and Judge Moore was removed from office for his refusal to comply with the federal court decision.
Indeed, as Mike Scruggs put it: “A great opportunity to insist on both States’ Rights and Religious Liberties was forfeited when the Governor and most of the Alabama Supreme Court failed to back Judge Moore in his resistance to federal judicial tyranny.”
All tyranny needs is people to do nothing.
Our government in Washington DC is full of people who don’t know how to say NO or even how to conduct themselves as government officials in accordance with the rightful authority given to them. Day upon day, we allow government tyranny, and especially, judicial tyranny. Do we even realize how many of our rights have been burdened over the years? We say we are “Free” but freedom implies the ability to exercise our God-given rights without condition and without government intervention or regulation. How “freely” are we really able to exercise our rights? Think on that as you self-censor, as you hide the cross around your neck in certain situations, as you decide not to put a bumper sticker on your car, as you decide not to say a prayer before your meal because someone might see you doing so, as you watch 1/3 of your hard-earned money get siphoned off by the government to spend predominantly on items that are unconstitutional, as you break into a sweat when April 15 comes around and you question whether you have saved all your receipts and if you have listed everything on your taxes so that you aren’t audited, and as you lose your job because someone in some cubicle somewhere was offended by something you said, posted in your private cubicle, wrote on FB, or something you wore around your neck or embossed on a tote bag.
Judge Moore may have been an unfavorable candidate, but it is most likely that the allegations against him were fabricated. He may be a flawed individual, but he is the RIGHT kind of individual for government. He is an unashamed, unapologetic, and undeterred interposer. Thomas Jefferson was a flawed man, as the left loves to point out, but he gave us the most consequential and meaningful document that any man has produced for mankind – the Declaration of Independence. The world has never been the same.
References:
VIDEO – President Obama, in a press conference, stating “I have a pen and I have a phone.” Referenced on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6tOgF_w-yI
Richard L. Aynes, “On Misreading John Bingham and the Fourteenth Amendment,” Yale Law Journal, October 1993, Pg. 57. Referenced at: http://www.constitution.org/lrev/aynes_14th.htm
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm
“The Short History of the Battle Over the Ten Commandments in Alabama.” http://www.wsfa.com/story/421482/short-history-of-the-battle-over-the-ten-commandments-in-alabama
Lawrence “Mike” Scruggs, The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Myths; 2011, Universal Media (Charlotte, NC), Chapter 6.