Once again, on a matter of import,
Senator Kennedy has delivered a clear message that draws on the finest traditions of America to show the right path in the battle to protect an independent judiciary.
Our Constitution of 1780, the DNA of which is evident in the later-adopted Constitution for the whole of the United States, also provided for a system of checks and balances through the creation of three co-equal branches of government. As Adams said: "By balancing each of these powers against the other two,. . . the efforts in human nature towards tyranny can alone be checked and restrained, and any degree of freedom preserved."
Kennedy acknowledges that one aspect of "human nature" leads to the emergence of tyranny. It has lived in so many other nations, of so many different human traditions, that it is unthinkable that it cannot happen here. Of course tyranny is possible in the United States.
Kennedy's address reminds America that an independent judiciary is one of the cornerstones of the system of checks and balances that has time and again preserved our Republic. Although it is certainly not an attack speech, Kennedy does make clear that recent moves by the Republicans put our Constitutional system at risk.
Yes, this is America where our institutions help protect us, but we are humans nevertheless. Unless human nature is revoked there will always be those who cannot escape the urge to expand their personal power through the construction of a tyranny. Tyranny can only be stopped by a committed citizenry which guards the institutions that have kept America free for all these years.
Unlike less contentious times there is now a concerted threat against this Constitutional system. The judiciary is under assault, both physical, and verbal. Groups allied with the Republican Party, many of them religious extremists with a theocratic agenda, are seeking to insert Congress and the Presidency into matters that are rightfully in the province of the courts.
Our system of government is the envy of the world. Yet, as we have seen again in recent days, there are forces that are seeking to undermine it. They are seeking to take away the independence of the judiciary -- the crown jewel in our system of government -- so that they can advance their own ideological agenda of the day. That is exactly the kind of tyranny that our ancestors fought to prevent, and, I pledge to you, that as long as I have a voice, I will continue to fight it as well.
Senator Kennedy will uphold his pledge but he can't do it alone. He needs help. Thankfully, not every Republican is so blinded by partisan blinders that they cannot see where attacks on the independence of the judiciary could lead.
I was encouraged yesterday by the remarks of federal court of appeals Judge Stanley Birch, a Republican appointee and consistently conservative voice on the 11th Circuit, as that court ruled yet again on the tragic case of Terri Schiavo. Referring to the decision by Congress to insert itself into this private matter that had already been fully litigated by the state courts, Judge Birch said: When the fervor of political passions moves the executive and legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene. If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow.
John Adams couldn't have said it better himself.
Senator Kennedy reminds Americans that even judges appointed by Republicans realize that we cannot allow Congress to dictate to judges. Judges must remain independent and many Republicans understand this. But it isn't just this lone check against tyranny that is threatened. A check on tyranny in the Senate is also under assault.
We unfortunately see this assault on the independent judiciary being played out again in the President's repeated nomination to the federal bench of a few radical, ideological individuals whose views are outside the mainstream of judicial thought -- and in the Senate majority's threatened use of the so-called "nuclear option" to railroad these nominations through the Senate by cutting off our right to debate.
Because of the genius of our Founding Fathers in creating our system of checks and balances, our democracy does not allow one party to impose its extreme views on the nation. That's why the President has the veto power -- as a check against Congress.
And that's why the Senate has rules for extended debate as a check on the President's judicial nominations.
The so-called "Nuclear Option" is just another way newly empowered Republicans are showing scorn for the institutions that served them when they were in the minority. If you can't win within the rules, use your muscle to change the rules to your benefit. Don't debate, steamroll. Don't persuade, demolish the opposition.
In John Adams' farewell address to the Senate in 1797, as he prepared to become our second President, he said, "No council more permanent than [the Senate] will be necessary to defend the rights, liberties, and properties of the people, and to protect the Constitution of the United States."
I couldn't agree more. Even though we are in the minority today, we will continue the fight to ensure that we have an independent judiciary, because, as Judge Birch of the 11th Circuit said just yesterday said, "[i]f sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow."
President John Adams had it right.
Judge Stanley Birch had it right.
Senator Kennedy has it right.
But President George Bush, Senator Bill Frist, and Representative Tom DeLay need to go back to school until they learn what has preserved our great country for more than 200 years. It isn't the bible, it's the Constitution of the United States. Yes, Americans largely follow Christian morality, and those that follow the teachings of Jesus Christ well have no problem living within the confines of the legal system set up by the Founders. But that Republican Triumvirate sneers at the Separation of Powers because they believe their power should be absolute.
That self-righteous pursuit of power is the kind of megalomaniacal behavior that has doomed other nations to tyranny throughout the history of mankind. Good Americans must not be Good Germans. We must stand up to this assault and raise our voices against those who would pervert what the ideals of America stand for.
If we say nothing or not enough, they will win.