Humpty Dumpty and the Constitution

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’ 
Lewis Carroll 

Remember when virtually every donkey in congress, joined by major media outlets were pounding the drums over the ‘politicization of the Justice Department?” We have seen time and time again that the Obama administration has taken so many actions that seem to be unconstitutional. Well, today in the Washington Post we can see that this is intentional. The Great and Powerful Obama’s hand picked ally in the Attorney General’s office has rejected a clear and distinct opinion that the DC statehood bill is unconstitutional. Of course, the Post couches it in weasel words.  ” Some in Justice… disagree..”  The role of the Office of Legal Counsel is to provide guidance, in this case requested by A.G. Eric Holder, on the legality of certain positions taken by the Administration. The current lawyers in the Obama OLC have essentially reached the same conclusion which the Bush era OLC had come to. The Statehood bill for DC is unconstitutional and should not be supported.

In deciding that the measure is unconstitutional, lawyers in the department’s Office of Legal Counsel matched a conclusion reached by their Bush administration counterparts nearly two years ago, when a lawyer there testified that a similar bill would not withstand legal attack.

Unhappy with this decision, Holder decided not to publish it, and instead he turned to the Solicitor’s office.

Holder rejected the advice and sought the opinion of the Solicitor General’s office…

Now the two offices have very different functions. After being told by the OLC that this bill would violate the United States Constitution, the Obama Administration then asked a different question of the Solicitor’s Office.  They were asked if they felt they could defend such a law should it be passed. Again, this is an entirely different issue.

Typically, legal scholars said, the solicitor general is asked whether the office can plausibly defend a law in court, rather than to opine directly on the legality of a piece of legislation.

 What we see here is very clear, and very dangerous. After being advised by their own attorneys that a particular action would violate the Constitution which all have sworn to uphold, they ignored ( and buried) the legal advice, and asked for a political opinion on the issue.  

This is clear, unequivocal evidence of the very thing the donkey party has screamed over. The Attorney General of the United States of America has directly changed policy to accommodate a political consideration. We have always harbored suspicions of the disdain the Obama people held for the Constitution, now we have direct and bright proof. .

This is a precedent, and even the Washington Post could not completely ignore it, while trying to downplay what was done, they had to put the facts out or lose the last shreds of respect they may still hold to themselves.

President Obama is showing that, for him, the Constitution is not an impediment to his desires and actions.  It is as if Humpty Dumpty were not running the Justice department. The Constitution means only what they choose it to mean. 

We are clearly facing something foreign, and no one seems able to stop them.

Americans need to prepare for a long hard slog, and watch carefully for the distortions this administration will perpetrate upon us.

Keep the Faith.

The Rev