Just two days ago, GOP Majority Leader Boehner, with great fanfare, offered their so-called "
American Values Agenda." The agenda is nothing but rehashing failed legislation designed to divide and distract the American people from the real problems we face, such as the inability to earn a living wage, a health care system in disarray, and sky-rocketing energy prices.
So imagine our shock when yesterday the very first item listed in their agenda, the so-called "Pledge Protection Act," (an unprecedented court stripping bill that would deny federal courts any ability to consider constitutional questions concerning the Pledge of Allegiance) went down to defeat in the House Judiciary Committee yesterday by a 15-15 vote.
Of course, in the GOP Congress, we can never count on a vote that we won holding up (remember the Prescription Drug bill?), so after the vote we learned that a re-vote was scheduled for today. But when the appointed hour of 2:30 came, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) refused to change his vote, so yesterday's defeat of the bill held (although Committee Democrats were prepared to boycott the proceedings in any event). This has got to be a crushing defeat for Boehner, who is now left with the Hobbesian choice of dropping the lead item in their sham "agenda" or bringing up legislation that was rejected by their own Committee.
There is no doubt the bill deserves defeat. Although I and other Democrats strongly support the Pledge of Allegiance, I cannot support legislation that would undermine the whole of the federal judiciary. By denying the Supreme Court its historical role as the final authority on the constitutionality of federal laws, this bill unconstitutionally usurps the Court's power and violates the principle of separation of powers that sets our government apart from the rest of the world.
If enacted into law, the bill would ultimately result in the balkanization of our judiciary and eliminate any possibility of operating under a single uniform Supreme Court. This is inconsistent with the very words of the Pledge of Allegiance, namely that we are "one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Dividing our nation into 50 different legal regimes (state courts would still have jurisdiction), where the Pledge is permitted in some jurisdictions and not in others, is the very antithesis of this sacred principle.
Moreover, the legal precedent that will be set if Congress is permitted to circumvent the federal courts when they don't like a particular decision (such as today's decision throwing out the Military tribunals) could be far-reaching. If this bill passes, we must ask, what other rights will next be placed at risk? The right to vote? The right to privacy? The Second Amendment? This bill would also impair religious liberty by making it harder to seek redress in the case of religious persecution or pressure. This was one of Bob Inglis' main complaints, stating that its passage would leave a complainant with "no access to a federal court to claim a federal constitutional right to free exercise [of religion]."
So today the man bit the dog, we caught the bus, we won a vote in committee. No doubt things will be a lot easier when we're in the Majority, but we'll take these victories as they come.