Returning to the Constitution, that’s what Republicans want to do in the new Congress. In the last year, the two hundred and twenty-three year old document has been getting a whole lot a lip service so when the One hundred and twelfth Congress is sworn in next week expect to hear a lot more about it because the Constitution is at the center of three coming Congressional battles. —Nora RobertsNora Roberts on the daily rundown interviewed Ezra Klein of The Washington Post regarding Republicans who have the majority in the House of Representatives coming in January. They discuss Republicans’ plan to read the Constitution in the House and Republicans’ plan to cite Constitution authority for every bill when 112th Congress reconvenes.
…You can say two things about it, one it has no binding power on anything. And two the issue of the Constitution is not that people don’t read the text and think they’re following. The issue with the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than a hundred years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done. –Ezra Klein
Again, there’s a very instrumental relationship people have with the Constitution. This goes from sort of us on the ground here in politics to the Supreme Court where Scalia, Thomas and other members of it tend to be on different sides of an issue, states’ rights (not audible) more federalist interpretation of things like marijuana regulation. When of course, that with their political beliefs comes down to a very cynical view of jurist prudence on the Constitution in that it seems to me that these battles almost always break down along partisan lines and have very little to do with any sort of enduring internal understanding of the document.—Ezra Klein
Are Progressive Liberals really attempting to undermine the U.S. Constitution rather than comply with what we have taught about it for over two hundred years? This One hundred twelfth Congress is going to be very interesting .
