US Militia Movement

[mosouthpaw]

Southern Poverty Law Center, this group would just rather the constitution be written in pencil so they could edit the text to fit their liberal leftist ideals....

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[natticarry]

Judicial review in itself is not really in the constitution but since the constitution was silent on who decided what was and wasn't constitutional the courts took it upon themselves and it is the best solution we have available to us.

To state that the process is constitutional makes anything that comes out of it constitutional is not really much of an argument. If an anti-free speech party controlled the Senate and the White House, and a meteor dropped on the supreme court killing all 9 justices. Any law that was passed to eliminate free speech would still be unconstitutional even if reviewed by the supreme court and upheld. This is a very unlikely scenario but an illustration of how following process does not mean the laws that come out are constitutional.

[quantum36]

This is simply not true. Every piece of proposed legislation is examined for constitutionality. If something passes which "might not be" constitutional it can be, and often is challenged, immediately by one group or another.

If something survives the court's review, then by definition it is constitutional.

We do not have unconstitutional governance. We have individual issues on which there are sometimes legitimate points of contention,
but so long as the courts exist, so long as the Supreme Court exists and is available to accept challenges, we have constitutional government.

We live in a very complex society with 300 million people from very many different backgrounds and with very many different points of view. Uncle can't please everyone all the time, and those who are unhappy inevitably look to the constitution to justify their viewpoint. Under the constitution there are only 9 people, a president, and the 535 members of congress whose opinion on constitutionality count. When Congress passes a law, a president signs it, and the courts reject a challenge, that law is fully constitutional.

I guess you didn't hear about the gun confiscations during Hurricane Katrina. Police and National Guardsmen kicking down doors, breaking and entering people's homes and stealing property without any warrants whatsoever.

Yeah,..... "real constitutional".

[SHOOTER13]

This is exactly how I feel our founding fathers would react to our allowing the Constitution to be trampled on...

YouTube - We The People Stimulus Package

[TucAzRider]

I believe trolls exist on this forum.

You guessed right.. And I can name a few for sure.. .


For anyone to sit here and say the Brady bill is "Constitutional"... hmmm.. That was voted in,.. Wasn't it???

[ErnieNWillis]

You guessed right.. And I can name a few for sure.. .


For anyone to sit here and say the Brady bill is "Constitutional"... hmmm.. That was voted in,.. Wasn't it???

This particular troll is one who is blatantly obvious. I have run across him on numerous threads and just shake my head in utter amazement that he hasn't been called out yet.

[Chroode]

Why is National Guard recruiting for 'internment' cops?

[ctr]

I am just a simple man. Not overly educated. Certainly no lawyer. I go about my days tending to my business, making a living, and living within the law.

I love my country, would fight and die for it. But even I, a simple man, can tell when my government is kicking me in the groin. And fellas, I'm hurting now.

[Stetson]

I do believe there is a great distrust for the government at all levels as they have been screwing us at all levels for years! Just watch the national news,I don't care what channel you watch.We all watched the guy in Pennsylvania give Arlene Specter more than he wanted.He was part of the great cover up of Warren Commission that's for another discussion.It seems no one wants what the President selling, especially if you are a doctor.I don't want my fees set and frozen after all time spent training for low wages with huge student loans waiting to be paid ! Remember,physicians start practices and hire people to assist and run the office.The good one pay above average wages.Last point,everything our government touches it screws up !Even though our President says he isn't a socialist maybe he should read Karl Marx teachings and he said it wouldn't work.

[steelhawk]

At one point in the 90s there was a militia forming in my county. Because of negative press, it was disbanded.

I would like to see it reformed.

Since I know what the people are like who live in my area, it would not be a terrorist group, or white supremist but would be composed of law abiding, patriotic, country loving citizens.

[automatic slim]

This is simply not true. Every piece of proposed legislation is examined for constitutionality. If something passes which "might not be" constitutional it can be, and often is challenged, immediately by one group or another.

If something survives the court's review, then by definition it is constitutional.

We do not have unconstitutional governance. We have individual issues on which there are sometimes legitimate points of contention,
but so long as the courts exist, so long as the Supreme Court exists and is available to accept challenges, we have constitutional government.

We live in a very complex society with 300 million people from very many different backgrounds and with very many different points of view. Uncle can't please everyone all the time, and those who are unhappy inevitably look to the constitution to justify their viewpoint. Under the constitution there are only 9 people, a president, and the 535 members of congress whose opinion on constitutionality count. When Congress passes a law, a president signs it, and the courts reject a challenge, that law is fully constitutional.

Don't read it, just sign it............

[rmccoll]

This just deflection. MSM referencing the Southern Poverty Law Center is like referencing Moveon.org. Neither has any credibility with people who understand the source.

[Hopyard]

Don't read it, just sign it............

Here's how it works for real, not in folks imaginations.
Every bill is looked at for constitutionality. There can of course be legitimate disagreements as to whether or not something is constitutional, but Congress gets the first shot at deciding with their vote. Before they vote, bills go through a judiciary committee (precisely to check for constitutionality) and many other committees and staff members check for constitutionality as well.

When a bill gets to the president's desk, it is also examined by presidential staff, for constitutionality. The president also gets to use his judgment in deciding whether or not a veto is necessary.

Again, there may be disagreements over whether or not something is constitutional, but the first two checks are Congress and the president.

The third check is the judiciary.

We have constitutional government. We may have differences of opinion with our critters or with a president, but laws passed and signed are constitutional until a court rules otherwise.

It is very easy to get worked up on one issue or another, to feel really strongly about one's own position, but that is the way things work.

You can't disobey a law because you as an individual think it is unconstitutional. That is breaking the law. It is very very rare indeed that anyone can go to court and use as a defense their own opinion that the law is unconstitutional. That one works about as well as the insanity defense.

You can if you are someone with what the courts call standing, challenge the law, ask for an injunction against its implementation or against implementation of some of its provisions.

No one should delude themselves into thinking that we don't have constitutional governance and that this is so grave a threat that the formation of private militias (terrorists usually) is appropriate.

[Hopyard]

Judicial Review does not happen until after the fact,

Of course it happens after the fact. The primary responsibility for determining if a bill is constitutional lies with the appropriate committees in Congress and with the critters.

Next, the president and his staff get to look at the bill and if there is a constitutionality question, veto it.

Those are the first and second lines of defense against unconstitutional laws.

The last line of defense is the courts.

Laws passed by a legislative body, whether Congress or a State legislature, and signed into law by the executive, whether a president or a governor, are presumed to be constitutional until there is a successful challenge.

There are few successful challenges.

During the last legislative session one particular Republican Senator through quite a fit (and with justification) when someone suggested that the courts would overturn a particular piece of legislation he favored. He responded in righteous indignity that they (the courts) weren't the only people who could read the constitution and that congress had the power to determine if a law was constitutional as part of the process of passing the law.

[SelfDefense]

No rights are given to the federal government unless they are stated in the Constitution.

The government has no rights. They were given powers. There is a significant difference.