Speaking of the flag burning amendment, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said the amendment would:
"restore the constitution to what it was before unelected jurists changed it five to four." He went on to say, "Five lawyers decided 48 states were wrong."Those five unelected lawyers, who Hatch holds with so much contempt you can hear the venom dripping on his every word, those lawyers are commonly referred to as United States Supreme Court Justices. They are the highest jurists in all the land, and they are the governmental equal of Senator Hatch. He and they hold the same rank and power in our system of government.
So where does a United States Senator get off talking about justices of the Supreme Court as though they're two-bit thugs? This is the same kind of language Hatch's Republican colleagues have used repeatedly to paint the court as dangerous and even worthy of death, according to one Republican Senator and at least one religious right activist. It's what made Republican Justice Sandra Day O'Connor complain that such intemperate language could incite violence against Supreme Court justices.
Is this the way members of Congress should be talking about an entire branch of our government? About our entire system of checks and balances? Is this the best way to honor the framers of the Constitution, the founders of our country, on this upcoming 4th of July? Trashing the very system of government our men and women in Iraq are giving their lives for? And inciting violence against judges as a way of achieving political goals?
Orrin Hatch owes the Supreme Court, our soldiers, and all Americans an apology.
