-Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 07/08/1999 5:33:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<<
> Don't worry about the Framers' vision. The Rehnquist Court has obliterated
> federal law and anything Congress has to say. It happened just a couple of
> weeks ago. Your side is winning. Well except for the 6th amendment. They
> gave that the boot too. Prudy
Prudy,
Could you give a link or post the ruling you are talking about? If you
posted it to the list I must have missed it. Thanks! >>
Well, I'll give you part of one story that ran in my very conservative daily
paper. It surprised me tht they ran it. The original column was "Rightwing
Supreme Court Busy Protecting Rights - but States Rights, not Your Rights."
It was written for the LA Times by Erwin Chemerinsky, Professor of Law and
Political Science at University of Southern California. There was a follow
up the next day by Edward P. Lazarus, author of "Closed Chambers: The Rise,
Fall and Future of the Modern Supreme Court. That was also done for the LA
Times.
I quote from Chermerinsky:
In a startling series of decisions, the U>S> Supreme Court has radically
changed American government. For 2l2 years of American history, people have
been able to sue state governments when a state violates federal laws and
inflicts injuries. However last Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled tht state
governments generally cannot be sued in any court without their consent.
The result is that state governments can violate federal law with impunity
and nowhere be held accountable. The decisions are the height of
conservative judicial activism. The five most conservative justices -
William H. Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M.
Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas - invented new rights for state governments at
the expense of individuals.
One of the cases involved a probation officer in Maine who was owed overtime
pay by the state government under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The
court ruled that the state government's sovereigh immunity meant that it
could be sued in neither federal nor state court, even if the person suing
had a right to the money.
Another case involved a Florida investment method that allowed students to
set aside funds to pay for college education. A company that developed the
system sued Florida for infringement. The Supreme Court ruled that the state
could not be sued in federal court, even if it had violated the company's
rights. Because federal law precludes state courts from hearing patent cases
and because in the Maine case the court held that state governments can't be
sued in state courts without their consent, Florida now could profit greatly
from violating the private company's patent and trademark, and there's
nothing the company can do about it.
The cases have huge implications. A state laboratory could dump toxic wastes
in violation of federal laws, and those who become ill would have no recourse
against the state in any court. A state university could violate copyright
laws by making copies of a book and selling it to students at a few dollars
less than its usual price, profiting at the expense of the publisher and
author. States could ignore patent laws, violating the rights of inventors
and patent holders, and no court will be able to grant relief.
The Supreme Court based its ruling on its desire to protect federalism and
state sovereignty. Yet in doing so, the court subverted the most basic
constitutional principle of federalism: the supremacy of federal law.
Article VI of the Constitution mandates that federal law is supreme over the
states, and that state judges must obey federal law. The effect of
Wednesday's decision iis that state governmets now can ignore federal law,
and no court will be available to enforce it.
The court also proclaimed tht states have a "right" to be free from lawsuits
without their consent, even thought this right is nowhere to be found in the
Constitution. The only provision dealing with the issue, the llth Amendment
says tht a state cannot be sued in federal court by citizens of other states.
There is no provision that limits the ability to sue a state in state court
or that prevents a state from being sued in federal court by its own
citizens. The high court simply invented a new right for state governments.
Moreover, the court treated safeguarding state governments as the ultimate
goal and left individuals - who are owed overtime pay, who own patents- with
nowhere to turn for relief.
(There is more here, but I'll wind up withthe last paragraph.
Rights have meaning only if there is a remedy for their violation. The
Supreme Court's deecisions mean that there is no remedy against state
governments even when they violate rights created by federal law. In a
breathtaking exercise of judicial activism, the court has subverted th
superemacy of federal law and left countless individuals without recourse.
End of Chemerinsky story.
Lazarus has one ver interesting bit. "In American history no issue has been
more devisive. The principle of states' rights provided the legal lifeblood
for slavery......"
Can't you see the return of the Jim Crow laws? The South has risen again!
There goes the Violence Against Women Act. And since corporations are
chartered by the States, this may excuse them from any heinous polluting,
etc. they want to do. It should be very interesting. Just get ready to
"submit graciously." I think that's all that's left to us.
Prudy
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