Monday, April 19, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Very bad idea

In what could be the worst proposal to come down the pike in quite some time -- and when you're talking about the federal government, that's saying something -- a Kentucky representative wants to give Congress the power to overrule U.S. Supreme Court decisions it doesn't like.

Rep. Ron Lewis, a Republican elected in 1994 who once promised his constituents he'd serve only four terms -- oops! -- has come forth with "The Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act." Under the measure, two-thirds of both the Senate and the House would have to agree to the override.

Under this law, the Constitution would essentially be interpreted to reflect popular opinion -- a scary thought, given that many Americans confronted with an unlabeled copy of the Bill of Rights would likely consider many of the scribblings dangerous and subversive.

Our system is designed to insulate federal judges from the transitory whims of the mob. Rep. Lewis' proposal would obliterate that important safeguard and leave our rights and freedoms at the mercy of public sentiment.

"The courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits assigned to their authority," wrote Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers, No. 78. "The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts."

In fact, Congress already has many options when it comes to reining in activist judges. It has the power to impeach federal judges who egregiously overextend their authority. It has the power to pass legislation -- or, along with state legislatures, amend the Constitution -- to addresses the concerns of the judiciary. And finally, Congress can simply refuse to confirm judicial candidates deemed objectionable.

Of course, Rep. Lewis' bill is itself inherently unconstitutional -- and would certainly be found so by any federal court.