The Unwritten Amendment

In a 10-2 decision, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed what a three-judge panel from the same court had decided earlier today, which was what U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore had ruled yesterday – Congress will make no law that makes a mockery of our system of justice – I call it the unwritten amendment to the Constitution. But seriously, the judicial branch firmly rejected President Bush and Congress's nocturnal attempt at subverting states rights over this past weekend. In a brilliant editorial on Tuesday entitled, "A Blow to the Rule of Law", The New York Times lambastes this blatantly political effort by the ruling troika (Bush, Frist, and Delay) –

“The new law tramples on the principle that this is ‘a nation of laws, not of men,’ and it guts the power of the states. When the commotion over this one tragic woman is over, Congress and the president will have done real damage to the founders' careful plan for American democracy.”

It would be ironical if this case finally lands up in the Supreme Court, whose questionable intervention in that other famous Florida court case (Bush v. Gore) in 2000 epitomized the dilution of states rights. After their infamous 5-4 ruling handed the presidency to George W. Bush, the popular joke back then was that we were not a banana republic, we only had banana Republicans – but the real life GOP of the past weekend surely imitated the art! The Times editorial concludes with this dire warning –

“President Bush and his Congressional allies have begun to enunciate a new principle: the rules of government are worth respecting only if they produce the result we want. It may be a formula for short-term political success, but it is no way to preserve and protect a great republic.”

The original George W. – father of our nation – must surely be turning in his grave.