 |
Keyes lambastes clique of "lawless" judges
Hannity & Colmes show spotlights the Ten Commandments issue August 22nd After eight justices of the Alabama Supreme Court voted Thursday to override Chief Justice Roy Moore and remove an embattled Ten Commandments monument from public view in the Alabama Judicial Building, Alan Keyes appeared that evening on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes. Dr. Keyes' appearance on the top cable network's popular show was widely promoted. Judge Moore's position At the outset, Dr. Keyes was asked by Sean Hannity to summarize the strength of Judge Moore's controversial position. Dr. Keyes answered by noting the Constitution's separation of "federal" and "state": "I think that we have to focus . . . on the clear constitutional issue. At the national level, there is no doubt that we are not supposed to have any kind of national, uniformly-imposed regime, with respect to religion. And Congress shouldn't make any laws "What we're seeing," Dr. Keyes continued, "is an effort to impose a uniform national regime of atheism on religious matters, and that is deeply unconstitutional." Judicial dictatorship Challenged by the show's liberal half "[Lawyers and judges] are bound by the law. They, too, are required to have a basis in law for what they do," Keyes pointed out. With that in mind, Keyes then had strong words for the federal judge who ordered the Ten Commandments removed from the Alabama Supreme Court Building, Judge Myron Thompson Keyes said, "When people say some law's being broken here [by Judge Moore], I say, 'What law?' [Judge Thompson] is a federal judge. He needs a federal basis for what he's doing. But Congress can make no law respecting an establishment of religion. He has no grounds, no basis whatsoever, from which to address this issue." In fact, stated Keyes, "The whole train of legal precedents that has been fabricated, fraudulently, from the bench [on the issue of religion in public life] has no basis in our Constitution. And to say that we must simply submit to baseless dictation from the bench is Elaborating, Keyes said: "Excuse me for saying so, but I think it's time we got away from this rut of believing that we live under some arcane priesthood of the lawyers, and we don't get to believe the evidence of our own eyes and common sense when we read the basic documents of our country's history." "We should not turn over our liberties to arcane interpretations and fabrications by a legal clique that desires to amass great power over every aspect of our lives and tell us we no longer have a say. That despotic judicial dictatorship was predicted by Thomas Jefferson, and he said that we should reject it The court order's significance When Colmes labeled as "wrong" Keyes' claim that those judges who want the Ten Commandments monument removed are "imposing atheism" on others, Keyes pointed out that Judge Thompson himself wrote that the state of Alabama "cannot acknowledge God." "That's what he says," Keyes reminded Colmes. "I didn't make that up. He says that that's the core issue, and he says the answer is no. He is imposing, through his order, this atheism, and he has said so himself." Earlier appearance on the Sean Hannity show Earlier in the day, Dr. Keyes appeared on the Sean Hannity radio program and made similar remarks. He said, "The federal courts are trampling upon the Constitution Stressed Keyes, "This was exactly what the Founders explicitly, repeatedly, said they wanted to keep the federal government from being able to do in any way whatsoever. People say there's a long line of precedents with all these court decisions. It's not a long line of precedents, it's a long line of abuses Dr. Keyes followed up by challenging like-minded Americans to join him and Judge Moore in Alabama: "For people who profess a concern about our moral heritage, a belief in the Declaration of Independence, and in the relevance and importance of acknowledging our Creator, from Whom we get our rights Judge Moore, himself, also appeared on the radio show moments before Dr. Keyes and repeated his assertion that he has a sworn duty "to acknowledge God" as the basis of Alabama and American law. Judge Moore's press conference The show led off with Judge Moore's press conference, in which the judge said he "was very disappointed with my colleagues on the court, who have decided to . . . remove the monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building." Judge Moore promised "very soon" to file a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, "to resolve clearly our unalienable right to acknowledge God, under the First Amendment," as a state. He then observed, "Not only does Judge Thompson put himself above the law, but above God as well" The state's position Alabama Governor Bob Riley praised the Alabama Supreme Court for "uphold[ing] the rule of law" Later, on Hannity & Colmes, Keyes noted that "the governor and even the president and everybody else is sworn to uphold and preserve, protect, and defend" the constitutions of Alabama and of the United States. He added that if a state official "simply surrenders to the dictates of a federal judge, on a matter where there is no clarity of federal jurisdiction, he surrenders the sovereignty of his people." See:
For correspondence: P.O. Box 1310 • Herndon, VA 20172-1310 df@declarationfoundation.com © 2008, Declaration Foundation • ® All rights reserved. |
