|
|
|
|
|
Constitution In ExileThe Constitution in Exile refers to provisions of the United States Constitution that have not been strictly enforced by the Supreme Court since the 1930's. According to an article by Legal Affairs Editor Jeffry Rosen in The New Republic, "The phrase comes from a 1995 article by Douglas Ginsburg, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., whom Ronald Reagan unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court after the Senate rejected Bork."http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=Sms6EeBveHgkYCWg9U4MRw== According to the same article, reinstating provisions "exiled" from the constitution would mean "reimposing meaningful limits on federal power that could strike at the core of the regulatory state for the first time since the New Deal. These justices could change the shape of laws governing the environment, workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination, and civil rights, making it difficult for the federal government" to act on these issues. Rosen argues that one of the most important provisions of the Constitution in Exile is limitations on the interstate commerce clause, which were undermined by the Supreme Court's "expansive interpretation of Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce... extended to include any activities that might affect commerce indirectly" during the New Deal. "In 1995, however, the Supreme Court began taking tentative steps toward resurrecting some of the constitutional limitations on the regulatory state that had been dormant since the '30s. In controversial 5-4 rulings, the Court limited Congress's power to ban guns in schools, for example, and to punish violence against women, holding that the laws did not involve commercial activities and therefore couldn't be justified by Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce." Though supporters of the Constitution in Exile call themselves strict constructionists, Rosen argues that their opinions are judicial activism and "contemptuous of Congress."
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|