Monday, September 19, 2011

Republi-CON Constitutional Authority Hypocrisy

"In honor of Constitution Day we pose the question: Which part of the Constitution governs the use of laser pointers?

It sounds like a dumb question, since the Constitution predated the laser by 171 years. But this year, the House of Representatives declared it had found an answer: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.

That clause says Congress has the power 'To regulate Commerce ... among the several States.' Which, of course, doesn’t say anything about lasers. But the House still used those words to justify a bill that prohibited pointing lasers at aircraft: The logic was that they were acting to protect “commerce.”

This legal loop-de-loop is the result of a new rule in the House, where Republican leaders require every bill to carry a 'Constitutional Authority Statement.' The idea was to demonstrate that a new GOP majority respected the enduring restraints of the Constitution.

Instead, this Congress has often demonstrated something else: an ongoing tendency to make the Constitution say whatever they want it to."

Read the Washington Post, Congress finds, and lists, meaning in Constitution.