Ok I might be a geek about Supreme Court Decisions, but come on!!! You can't name one that you disagree with. Even the one about you pet issue that you sent out a press release regarding. Come on...
It is quite a stark comparison.
From CBS on Roe v. Wade
Katie Couric: Why do you think Roe v. Wade was a good decision?
Joe Biden: Because it's as close to a consensus that can exist in a society as heterogeneous as ours. What does it say? It says in the first three months that decision should be left to the woman. And the second three months, where Roe v. Wade says, well then the state, the government has a role, along with the women's health, they have a right to have some impact on that. And the third three months they say the weight of the government's input is on the fetus being carried.
And so that's sort of reflected as close anybody is ever going to get in this heterogeneous, this multicultural society of religious people as to some sort of, not consensus, but as close it gets.
I think the liberty clause of the 14th Amendment ... offers a right to privacy. Now that's one of the big debates that I have with my conservative scholar friend, that they say, you know, unless a right is enumerated - unless it's actually, unless uses the word "privacy" in the Constitution - then no such "constitutional right" exists. Well, I think people have an inherent right.
Couric: Are there Supreme Court decisions you disagree with?
Biden: You know, I'm the guy who wrote the Violence Against Women Act. And I said that every woman in America, if they are beaten and abused by a man, should be able to take that person to court - meaning you should be able to go to federal court and sue in federal court the man who abused you if you can prove that abuse. But they said, "no, that a woman, there's no federal jurisdiction." And I held, they acknowledged, I held about 1,000 hours of hearings proving that there's an effect in interstate commerce.
Women who are abused and beaten and beaten are women who are not able to be in the work force. And the Supreme Court said, "well, there is an impact on commerce, but this is federalizing a private crime and we're not going to allow it." I think the Supreme Court was wrong about that decision.
Yes Biden is a lawyer, and yes he might not have given the perfect answer. I love the answer but I think he did not need to go into the specifics regarding the interstate commerce clause. The geek in me loves it, but the armchair political strategist says leave it out.
And then there is this...
Compare the two answers....
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Couric Why, in your view, is Roe v. Wade a bad decision?
Sarah Palin: I think it should be a states issue not a federal government-mandated, mandating yes or no on such an important issue. I'm, in that sense, a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. Now, foundationally, also, though, it's no secret that I'm pro-life that I believe in a culture of life is very important for this country. Personally that's what I would like to see, um, further embraced by America.
Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?
Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.
Couric: The cornerstone of Roe v. Wade.
Palin: I do. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that.
Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?
Palin: Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ...
Couric: Can you think of any?
Palin: Well, I could think of ... any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.
My biggest problem is that she should know something. Ok so you are only into abortion, how about Casey v. Planned Parenthood. Specifics on abortion rights not your thing? Understandable, after all your strengths are Alaska and energy right? But what about Exxon v. Baker. It is frustrating the lack of intellectual curiosity she shows. It's not only that she doesn't want to know, it is that anyone who thinks she should know is an elitist liberal playing gottcha journalism (You know the kind where you ask questions).
Also when did conservatives get to redefine what the word Federalist means. I am pretty sure Alexander Hamilton and James Madison would greatly appreciate if they cease and desist. Or at least if they were going to co-opt the term, do it for a movement that some what resembles Federalism.
Speaking of our founding fathers...on Separation of Church and State
Katie Couric: Thomas Jefferson wrote about the First Amendment, building a wall of separation between church and state. Why do you think that's so important?
Sarah Palin: His intention in expressing that was so that government did not mandate a religion on people. And Thomas Jefferson also said never underestimate the wisdom of the people. And the wisdom of the people, I think in this issue is that people have the right and the ability and the desire to express their own religious views, be it a very personal level, which is why I choose to express my faith, or in a more public forum.
And the wisdom of the people, thankfully, engrained in the foundation of our country, is so extremely important. And Thomas Jefferson wanted to protect that.
Biden: The best way to look at it is look the every state where the wall's not built. Look at every country in the world where religion is able to impact ... the governance. Almost every one of those countries are in real turmoil.
Look, the founders were pretty smart. They had gone through, you know, several hundred years of wars - religious wars. And they were in the midst of religious wars in Europe. And they figured it out: The best way to do this is to keep the government out of religion. They took religion out of government. But they didn't mean religion couldn't be in a public place, in the public square.
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I really like Biden's answer on this one. He is on point, shows a grasp of domestic affairs, world affairs and history in a non pretentious was. I am not really sure what she is getting at with the wisdom of the people thing.
I can't find the exact quote yet, but I know something Jefferson did say
"No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity." --Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Board of Visitors Minutes, 1821. ME 19:408