Floor Statements
Floor Debate on H.R. 2389, the Pledge Protection Act of 2005
Washington, DC,
April 21, 2008
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is commenting and his entire speech was about the desirability or the worth of the words ``under God,'' which I think almost everybody agrees with. The issue in this bill is court-stripping. Do we take away from the courts the right to decide, to protect people's rights?
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Stearns may be right in everything that he is saying, but he does not seem to have the confidence that the courts will agree with him, because if he did, he would not be supporting this legislation. Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? Mr. NADLER. I yield myself 10 seconds so I can yield to the gentleman from Florida. Mr. STEARNS. Would you agree that we here in Congress can have the right in the separation of powers to overrule the Supreme Court? Mr. NADLER. To overrule the Supreme Court? Certainly we do not have that. Mr. STEARNS. Not to overrule, but to pass laws here to check the balance of the Supreme Court? Mr. NADLER. We have the right, but I do not believe we have the right, given the fact that the Bill of Rights postdates the grant of the jurisdiction-setting authority in the Constitution, I do not think we have the right to take away from the Supreme Court the ability to protect constitutional rights. |