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Jewish World Review
Nov. 11, 2010/ 4 Kislev, 5771
Checks (and Balances), Please
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Yet again, much like what is ongoing in Arizona, the federal government, represented by U.S. District Court Judge Vicki Miles-LeGrange, is attempting to repudiate the will of the electorate in Oklahoma. Judge Miles-LeGrange put a hold on a law that bars courts in that state from considering Sharia Law for the purposes of rendering decisions in cases put before them. 70% of Oklahomans voted in favor of the statute. A hearing on November 22 will determine whether or not the injunction becomes permanent.
"Today's ruling is a reminder of the strength of our nation's legal system and the protections it grants to religious minorities," said Muneer Awad, executive director of Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Oklahoma. Mr. Awad filed the suit last two days after the election, claiming the law violated his Constitutional rights.
Does one sense the irony here? Mr. Awad apparently believes the judge's decision should be based on the Constitution, even as a ruling in his favor would have judges considering sources other than the Constitution as a result.
Sadly, Judge Miles-LeGrange is taking her cues from two Supreme Court Justices. Both Anthony Kennedy and Elena Kagan are on the record with the idea that "international law" can be referenced in an effort to reach Constitutional verdicts.
This is utter nonsense. Not because there is no value in sources other than the Constitution, but because it vastly expands the power of the Judicial branch of government beyond all scope envisioned by the Founding Fathers. Judges who believe their decisions aren't constrained by the limits of the Constitution are essentially saying they are above such limitations. In other words, we are a nation not "of laws," but one beholden to the "superior wisdom" of a judiciary willing to impose a particular set of values derived from any source they consider "wise."
That's not a "branch of government." That's a judicial monarchy.
Irony number two: the judge has validated the very vote against which she issued the injunction. Oklahomans voted to ban the courts from using both Sharia Law and international law as a means of expressing their fears of a judiciary run amok. Judge Miles-LeGrange just validated that fear. The desire of seven-out-of-ten Oklahomans to essentially establish state-mandated limits on the power of the judiciary was just negated by a single jurist.
The American left has been quick to criticize Oklahomans for their "intolerance" and "Bible-thumping ways." In addition, many liberals consider any fears of Sharia Law gaining a foothold in the United States to be unfounded.
Perhaps they should cast their eyes towards Great Britain. A 2009 study by independent think-tank Civitas claimed "at least 85 Islamic Sharia courts are operating in Britain," a number "17 times higher than previously accepted."
Or they can merely read the ruling of Judge Joseph Charles, a New Jersey family court jurist who refused to grant a restraining order to a Moroccan woman forced to repeatedly have sex with her husband against her will: "This court does not feel that, under the circumstances, that this defendant (her husband) had a criminal desire to or intent to sexually assault or to sexually contact the plaintiff when he did. The court believes that he was operating under his belief that it is, as the husband, his desire to have sex when and whether he wanted to, was something that was consistent with his practices and it was something that was not prohibited."
In other words, New Jersey state law only applies if it doesn't conflict someone's cultural expectations, which in this particular case is the Muslim "tradition" of treating women like property.
Incredibly, Judge Charles made this ruling after admitting that "a preponderance of the evidence showed the defendant had harassed and assaulted (his wife)." The ruling was later overturned by the Appellate Court, but it underscores the frightening level of "discretion" that accrues to judges untethered to anything other than their own feelings.
Is there an antidote to an imperialist-minded judiciary? On Election Day, voters in the state of Iowa did something that, with any luck, could be become a nationwide trend. Three state Supreme Court judges who had voted to make same-sex marriage legal in that state--overriding the state legislature and the peoples' wishes in the process--were booted from the bench for the first time since 1962, when Iowa's merit selection and retention system for judges was adopted.
As expected, liberals were furious, claiming that such a referendum threatens "judicial independence." Independence from what? Constitutional law? The expressed will of the people via legislation and the ballot box? Americans in Iowa and many other places, are fed up with reigning in progressive policy, only to see their efforts completely negated by an out-of-control judiciary--which then often adds insult to injury by citing extra-Constitutional sources as "inspiration."
As for Oklahoma, they join Arizona as yet another state where progressives, using the federal judiciary, are determined to thwart the will of the people in order to impose their agenda. Such heavy-handed rulings as these two will add more fuel to a fire already ignited by the health care bill's individual insurance mandate: a reassertion of states' rights as a bulwark against federal government overreach. And with a bit more luck, additional states will consider adopting recall statues for judges who believe the Constitution is little more than "one of many" reference guides for "divining" American law.
Such statutes would reinvigorate a concept completely anathema to progressive ambition and elitist judges: checks and balances--as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR Contributor Arnold Ahlert's column, by clicking here.
Previously:
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: Alice in Wonderland vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: Comprehensive Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: I Won
09/20/10: Purging Me First Politicians
09/17/10: No More Lesser of Two Evils
09/15/10: Recovery Arms Race
09/13/10: Bigots in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A Dream Debased
08/25/10: American Bigots Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better National Discussion
08/09/10: It's Only One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: Coordinated Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: Commerce Clause Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's Black President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-tea
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: Roe-ing and Wade-ing Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our Wonderama Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: Settled Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: Opting Out of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: Truthers and Consequences
09/01/09: A Paper Trail Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2010, Arnold Ahlert
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