Congress Has The Right To Protect Civil Rights Of Its Citizens

I was watching Fox News and they brought up the Case of Terri Shaivo. Their opinion was the interference of Congress in the case was a very foolish action. I beg to differ. The United States Constitution gives Congress the primary jurisdiction over rights of United States Citizens enumerated within it. It does this in Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment when it states “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Those who said otherwise were lying or mistaken.

On the other hand the federal judiciary was not awarded the same power but often takes it anyways is not criticized for the unconstitutional action. You will find no statement in the Constitution that grants the power to judge between a state government and its own people when you read the federal courts jurisdiction Article 3 Section 2. The Eleventh Amendment even restricted federal government more by forbidding suits in law or equity to be prosecuted against a state by citizens of another state or foreign government. The Supreme Court used the clause “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” to justify their actions. The same clause is just a paraphrase of “The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.” That clause is in Article IV Section 2 and was never intended to change the jurisdiction of the federal courts as the original Constitution would have contradicted itself. The Slaughterhouse cases assumed the courts had supreme jurisdiction on all constitutional issues. I see no explanation of how they came to that conclusion.

Looking at the Slaughterhouse cases I do see why the Justices should not have assumed that jurisdiction over the case. The deciding Justices said “Another privilege of a citizen of the United States is to demand the care and protection of the Federal government over his life, liberty, and property when on the high seas or within the jurisdiction of a foreign government.”. If you commit a crime in a foreign country the executive branch petitions the foreign government but you do not get to appeal to the federal judiciary. In the United States you have a similar situation where the state courts judge according to the constitution and laws of the state as well as the United States Constitution. The later being the highest law of the state. If the federal government disagrees then the executive branch can start a dispute with the state government and that dispute if not resolved in other ways can be taken to the federal courts. As mentioned above the federal Congress can make laws that can be judged by in the federal courts.

Congress was concerned that Terri Shiavo’s rights were being violated in Florida’s courts and made a law so the case could be reviewed by the federal courts. That is what Congress is supposed to do when they are concerned about someone violating the rights of a citizen of the United States. It is also what they should have done in the Slaughterhouse cases.

The reason the designers organized our government is clear because it was the separation of powers. The Supreme Court could not rule on anything until at least one other branch determined it was a problem. If the people of the United States considered it a erroneous ruling they could remove the elected officials who supported it and put in other elected officials that were more in tune with the general public. The way the courts corrupted it leaves the federal courts even isolated from the control of the people which causes tyranny. That was most likely their intent.