I’m Not A Lawyer, But I Understand Separation of Powers: Ramsey’s Chance to Shine?
I’m not a lawyer, but I can read this in our Tennessee Constitution:
TENNESSEE CONSTITUTION – ARTICLE II DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS
- § 1. Separation of powers; branches of government
- The powers of the Government shall be divided into three distinct departments: the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
- § 2. Separation of powers; persons belonging to different branches
- No person or persons belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except in the cases herein directed or permitted.
Now from where I sit here in little ole’ Clinton, Tennessee, it looks to me like once a piece of legislation EXPIRES, it’s gone, done for as they say.
So when a bunch of lawyers tell me that all proverbial-hell will break loose and that we’ll still have the Tennessee Plan in place if we don’t do SOMETHING!! ANYTHING!!, well, forgive me for not getting all hysterical.
Sometimes it’s difficult to see the common sense for the over-analysis.
To little ole me, without a piece of legislation in place authorizing a judicial selection process, there can be no selection process. Once June 30th arrives, buh-bye!
If legislation is not in place continuing the selection process, how can any court mandate the continuance of a plan that has a specific expiration date as part of its initial legislative passage?
Oh, the how is quite simple. It’s the same how that took place in Massachusetts when their Supreme Court ordered the Massachusetts legislature to create legislation. Mitt Romney failed that test when he failed to notify the court that they had stepped beyond their authority. A court can rule on law, not require a legislature to make law.
Should legislative wrangling fail in Tennessee, will Lt. Governor Ramsey be a national hero for recognizing the rule of law and separation of powers?
If the so-called Judicial Chaos Theory comes to fruition and a court attempts to force the legislature to pass a bill reauthorizing the Tennessee Plan, will any Senators or Representatives fight back? It wouldn’t be easy and it would take some courage, but a victory could be accomplished in this regard—and it could easily draw national attention.
For an example of judges overstepping their authority, how about watching one of the top-candidates on President Obama’s list to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter pull back the curtain on how some of the justices really view their role:
Helloooooo?!!!!
9 Comments so far
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Why would you expect the court to act any differently? It is in their self interest to issue an unconstitutional judgement that has to be challenged in court and continually throw out cases because the plaintiffs have no merit.
A court ruled a firearms owner should have known the rifle he purchased was defective and when it malfunctioned he was convicted of owning a “machine gun”. And the fact the ATF rigged the test had no bearing on the case.
Yet the SCOTUS ruled an illegal alien using a phony social security number was not an identity thief unless prosecutors could prove the illegal knew the number belonged to a real person.
Can’t wait to witness violations of the 1st amendment and special protections awarded to the paraphilia of choice in our courts when Kennedy’s hate crimes bill becomes law.
By Pogo on 05.05.09 10:11 am
“If the so-called Judicial Chaos Theory comes to fruition and a court attempts to force the legislature to pass a bill reauthorizing the Tennessee Plan, will any Senators or Representatives fight back?”
Surely, after all that sucking up the judges did to the absolute power of the legislator in their “white papers”, they wouldn’t later try to overrule it?
The legislators could simply remind the judiciary of that “broad” authority they conferred upon the legislator.
By Eric Holcombe on 05.06.09 12:47 pm
We will see if a legislator will have the courage to uphold the constitution,Judges must be elected and able to hold public meetings so they can explain and show their records to the constituents.
It will save time and money to the Court of the Judiciary.
By Rosine Ghawji on 05.06.09 3:03 pm
Does the TN legislature have the same type of authority as Congress to limit the type of cases they can hear? If so then do it.
By Pogo on 05.06.09 3:52 pm
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” — James Madison
I bet James Madison was talking about Tennessee or he was having a dream that he was living in Nashville
By Rosine Ghawji on 05.07.09 8:40 am
Who would know what legislation is being considered when they won’t post up the correct information? Is this intentional so they can pull an Obama, show you the right hand but pick your pocket with the left?
From TFA:
ncreasingly, however, it has been noted that amendments to bills are being prepared and circulated to legislators in advance of the committee hearings. Often times these amendments delete the original bill language entirely and propose an entirely new or different bill. If you watch the hearings, you will often hear the bill sponsors state that an “amendment is in the packet” and that the amendment “rewrites the bill.” The problem is that these amendments, although written clearly in advance of the hearings are not posted on the state’s web site even as proposed amendments. The effect of this is that citizens can be easily blind sided by changes in the substance of a bill that they thought they supported but perhaps no longer do.
By Pogo on 05.08.09 9:15 am
How will the government use GPS coordinates of our homes to monitor us?
By SemiPundit on 05.10.09 9:31 am
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090510/NEWS0201/905100371/Tennessee+s+attorney+general+says+retention+votes+unconstitutional
By Rosine Ghawji on 05.10.09 3:45 pm
Terry whats the point in having a GOP majority in the senate if their just going to cave to the democrats? They never learn. This is one of the reasons the GOP lost Congress.
By dan t on 05.12.09 2:53 pm
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