The following article is from my column "Rocky's Road" published in The Star Progress newspaper. This particular article was written in September 1988.
ROCKY'S ROAD
Well, those federal "unelected" judges are at it again busy subverting and destroying the very constitution that - when approved as federal judges - they swore to uphold, defined and protect.
Imbued in the United States Constitution, in the Constitution of all 50 states and as a major part of our democratic political heritage, is the paragon principle that no legislative decisions can be made, nor taxes levied, collected and spent unless the legislative acts and the taxes collected and spent are the result of an uncoerced, freely made decision of elected representatives (legislative and executive) responsible to the citizens who placed them into office! These elected representatives can be a local school board, a city council, a Quorum Court or members of national or state executive and legislative branches of government. It is both a sacred doctrine and principle of our government as well as an unalterable obligation of our separation of powers rights that our elected executive and legislative members of government perform and make certain independent separation of powers decisions - that are denied to the unelected Judicial Branch.
These "free will" decisions must be made with a clear conscience and without unconstitutionally illegal and unlawful coercion, duress and threats. Either our elected representatives (granted, exclusive legislative and taxing powers), are unaware of their expressed Constitutional powers, obligations and responsibilities or they are so in awe of the courts that they are too timid to fight back.
Collectively, federal Judges have illegally threatened and forced elected school boards (many against their will), to appropriate and spend billions of dollars across this blessed land to buy, equip, maintain, fuel, man and use thousands upon thousands of before not needed school buses - and for what? So that our children can be treated like stock yard animals and driven about an hour (one way) across town - so they can sit next to their neighbor in a classroom "quota sized" by rich dictatorial men - unelected and protected from the ballot box - who probably send their own children to private school!They are thus implying that elected school boards and parents with dependent children, and the children themselves, do not have the right, under the constitution to decide which public school ( tax payer-supported lest we forget) to attend. Yet on the other hand, federal judges have ruled before, and again last month, that a state law that required parental notification by doctors before they performed an abortion on unmarried girls, under age 18, is unconstitutional because it infringed on the constitutional rights of young girls. What about the constitutional rights of the parents? What about the constitutional rights of the unborn child?
Collectively, federal Judges have illegally threatened and forced elected school boards (many against their will), to appropriate and spend billions of dollars across this blessed land to buy, equip, maintain, fuel, man and use thousands upon thousands of before not needed school buses - and for what? So that our children can be treated like stock yard animals and driven about an hour (one way) across town - so they can sit next to their neighbor in a classroom "quota sized" by rich dictatorial men - unelected and protected from the ballot box - who probably send their own children to private school!They are thus implying that elected school boards and parents with dependent children, and the children themselves, do not have the right, under the constitution to decide which public school ( tax payer-supported lest we forget) to attend. Yet on the other hand, federal judges have ruled before, and again last month, that a state law that required parental notification by doctors before they performed an abortion on unmarried girls, under age 18, is unconstitutional because it infringed on the constitutional rights of young girls. What about the constitutional rights of the parents? What about the constitutional rights of the unborn child?
Federal and state laws, passed by elected representatives of the people, outline the duties, responsibilities and obligations of parental-child relationships. This relationship is an exclusive elected representative domain - it is not the playground of federal judges until the law is broken by either child of parent. When it is, and only then, the judges' responsibilities are to uphold the law - not subvert it. In both of the above decisions, the courts have not. only illegally crossed over the separation of powers and invaded exclusive legislative prerogatives, but the two decisions regarding childrens' rights are totally inconsistent.
It is bad enough that both decisions are wrong, but you would think federal judges would understand enough about constitutional principles to at least be consistent!
It could be argued, that more and more a case is being made for federal judgeship's to be filled by lawyers who also are political scientists and constitutional scholars. It is long over due for two actions to be taken. First, it is time that the "elected" members of our federal government remove the judicial branch from having any illegal say in executive-legislative areas. It may come as a surprise to many but Congress and the president have always had this authority in accordance with Article 1, Section 7 and Article III Section 2 of our Constitution and they should use it. Thence after, any federal judge usurping legislative and or executive powers wound be rightly subject to impeachment and removal from the bench. Second, the original main reason for having federal judges exempt from the voters' choice (basically to place them above the political battles) has long since been prostituted by the judges themselves.
It is long over due that a constitutional amendment be enacted requiring all federal judges to be elected by the citizens. If it's good enough for state judges to be elected , it certainly should be good enough for our "lacking" in constitutional knowledge federal judges - and the sooner we do it the better!
Lest we forget...as one who had the quiet privilege to occasionally be in the presence of Russell Strough, I was consistently awed by his magnificent grace and optimism in the face of such towering adversity.
For those of us who cower in the dark shadows of our minds and are pale and trembling before the altar of countless worries - his presence magnified the insignificance of our make believe problems.Rocky Whitely
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