On July 4, 1776 our Founding Fathers and a possible plurality of their Colonial constituents declared their independence from a bloated and tyrannical Great Britain.
At which point the real work began – a long and protracted war against an opponent who had them woefully outmanned and outgunned.
I’m getting star spangled flashbacks. A couple of recent Supreme Court rulings have collectively served as a not dissimilar declaration of independence – for We the People from DC’s Great Bureaucracy.
Here’s hoping We the People will emulate our forefathers – and do the required very heavy lifting that follows.
Supreme Court Rules Roe v. Wade Unconstitutional:
“The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday morning, ending the federal right to abortion, and returned the issue to the individual states, where roughly half are expected to limit or ban the procedure altogether.
“‘We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question,’ wrote Justice Samuel Alito. ‘The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.’”
Supreme Court Curbs EPA’s Climate Powers:
“In a 6-3 decision, the majority ruled that Congress did not authorize the EPA to induce a shift to cleaner energy sources using the approach that an Obama-era regulation sought to.
“‘Congress did not grant EPA…the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the Agency took in the Clean Power Plan,’ the majority wrote, referring to an Obama-era power plant regulation.”
What these two rulings do – is take power back from unelected bureaucrats and return it to We the People.
The Constitutional concept is: Our representative, republican government means we get to vote for people who vote on things that affect us. That’s the Legislative Branch – Congress.
Which means unelected judges (Judicial – Roe) and unelected bureaucrats (Executive – EPA) can’t make those decisions for us. Because that’s tyranny.
Except Congress has been outsourcing its Constitutional, legislative duties in this way – for decades. That way they can grow DC – without having their fingerprints on growing DC. So they can claim innocence – and keep getting re-elected.
Born out of this Congressional awfulness – was the Swamp. Or the Deep State. Or whatever you want to call it. And even more than the Judiciary, the Executive Branch bureaucracy has come to dominate the people they are supposed to serve.
Which is why Big Government aficionados everywhere are FREAKING OUT about the Court’s EPA ruling. Because that’s the one that reins in not just the EPA’s Green Freaks – but bureaucrats festering throughout DC.
Supreme Court Decision Likely To Limit Reach Of FCC And Other Federal Agencies:
“The case before the Supreme Court dealt with the environment, but the outcome has muddied the potential reach of all government agencies – including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
“Chief Justice John Roberts focused the majority opinion on what is known as the ‘major questions doctrine’ which essentially says federal agencies need ‘clear congressional authorization’ when adopting major policy shifts.”
“Clear congressional authorization” means about legislation – what the late Justice Antonin Scalia meant about the Constitution:
“The Constitution is not a living organism. It’s a legal document, and it says what it says and doesn’t say what it doesn’t say.”
If a law doesn’t specifically, expressly say the bureaucracy can do something? Then the bureaucracy can’t do that something.
Speaking of the FCC: There is perhaps no more clear cut example of bureaucrat overreach – than our decade-plus dance with the idiotic policy that is Net Neutrality.
How SCOTUS’s Latest Decision Could Hinder Democrats’ Effort to Reinstate Net Neutrality Rules
Congress has NEVER passed a piece of legislation that contains the phrase – or the concept of – Net Neutrality.
So there is the antithesis of “clear congressional authorization” for its imposition by unelected bureaucrats. There is ZERO congressional authorization for it.
So the FCC needs to finally, once-and-for-all – drop the idiocy. It’s Congress’s job – if Congress want’s it.
And that’s been the problem all along – Congress doesn’t want any part of it. Way back in 2010 – when Leftists first began pushing Net Neutrality – they contemplated doing it right and going through Congress. Oops.
95 PCCC Pro-Net Neutrality Democrats All lost on Tuesday -And PCCC Raised Less Than $300 On It
Which is why they immediately thereafter began repeatedly jamming it through the FCC – bereft of Congressional authorization.
Oh sure, Leftists can generate push polls to make it look like Net Neutrality is popular. They’ve been doing it for years.
Net Neutrality: The Media Lies – Then Polls on the Results of Their Lies
The Latest Fraud: The Newest, Leftist Net Neutrality ‘Poll’
But if it were actually popular – why not go through Congress? You know, like the Constitution requires.
But they STILL don’t. Instead….
Dems’ Dreams Could Get Crushed Yet Again – This Time, at the FCC:
“At stake are Democrats’ hopes for a majority on the five-member FCC, which has been mired in a 2-2 partisan split for all of Biden’s term. That in turn will determine whether the agency can get to work on progressives’ telecom priorities, including a revival of the agency’s Obama-era net neutrality rules.”
Here’s a thought, Democrats: If Net Neutrality is that important to you?
Instead of outsourcing the gig for which you raise and spend millions of dollars to get – over and over and over again?
Do your job – and pass Net Neutrality legislation.
Until then? Leave US alone.
Going forward: The Donald Trump-led Supreme Court can only restore our freedoms so much.
The lion’s share of that work – is up to us.
We must ensure Congress does its job – and unelected bureaucrats do not do it for them. All day – every day. As Declaration author Thomas Jefferson said:
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
Amen.