Antonin Scalia fought against Kritarchy
[From article]
Among this election season’s oddities was the dust-up between Pope Francis and Donald Trump. After departing Mexico, the pontiff appeared to criticize Trump in an interview, suggesting that building walls — not bridges — “is not Christian.”
Calling the comment “disgraceful,” the presidential front-runner and insulter-in-chief compelled the Vatican to Think Again before retreating. Meanwhile, comedians joked that the perceived papal putdown would cause church attendance to fall and Trump’s poll numbers to surge.
Indeed, by crossing swords with the pontiff, Trump burnished his image as a fearless fighter, a trait his voters prize. Unfazed by his incoherence, lack of policy specifics or controversies, Trump supporters, like columnist Jim Nolte, are tired of losing and want “someone who will do whatever it takes to win.”
Buoying Trump is Americans’ sense of powerlessness and insecurity. Consider these controversial policies imposed on disapproving majorities using extra-constitutional means: the Iran deal, the irresponsible and never-debated Omnibus budget, Obamacare, trade promotion, and executive actions and sanctuary-city policies that nullify immigration laws.
[. . .]
That Bork was Scalia’s ideological and intellectual equal but was rejected shortly after Scalia’s unanimous approval speaks to how politicized the theoretically independent judiciary has become. Consider that it was President Franklin Roosevelt’s fellow Democrats who foiled his plan to pack the Supreme Court.
[. . .]
Thomas Jefferson warned that giving “judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not … would make the judiciary a despotic branch.” Now, having morphed from “the least dangerous branch” into an unelected super-legislature of nine philosopher kings with lifetime appointments, it’s not surprising Supreme Court nominations are hotly contested and fraught with hypocrisy.
[. . .]
By short-circuiting the democratic process for resolving emotionally charged issues, Scalia believed the court was violating “a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.”
[. . .]
As Scalia argued while pointing to unfree nations that have charters of rights, “It isn’t the Bill of Rights that produces freedom; it’s the structure of government that prevents anybody from seizing all the power.”
Essentially, the founders used constitutional walls to separate and check power so that diverse people with differing beliefs would be free to build bridges of mutual respect and tolerance, forging an open and decent society. The Supreme Court’s unlikely “best buddies” — rivals Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — built a remarkable bridge, a lesson for Pope Francis, Trump and Trumpkins.
Think Again — Isn’t the best way to “Make America Great Again” to elect a president who’ll adhere to America’s great constitution?
http://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/20807989-113/sturm-scalias-lessons-for-trumpkins
Melanie Sturm
Think Again
February 24, 2016
Sturm: Scalia's Lessons For Trumpkins
No comments:
Post a Comment