How to Stop the Tyranny of Judges — June 2006

Phyllis Schlafly’s book is unique because (a) it is an easy read for non-lawyers and (b) it provides solutions. The American people must stop the judges from taking over powers of the other branches of government, and this book shows how this can be constitutionally done. Self-government is at stake.

Congress will use its constitutional powers to restrain the supremacist judges only if and when Congress hears from the voters. But the voters will make their voices loud and clear only after they develop the ability to talk to their Members of Congress about this issue, can answer the questions in this Report, and know how to demand specific legislation.

Phyllis’s book is designed to give you and your neighbors that ability. You not only should read the book, you should discuss it with your friends and neighbors. That’s why we urge you to start a Judicial Reform Study Group. Invite a dozen of your friends, see that each one gets a book, and meet once a week for one hour over simple refreshments or a meal. Discuss one chapter at each meeting, and mark up your copy of the book so you can refer to particular sections. You will soon become familiar enough with the problem and the solutions to discuss them with your Members of Congress, other public officials, and opinion makers such as talk-show hosts and letters to the editor.

Here is a simple outline for your Eagle Forum Judicial Reform Study Group, using one chapter in The Supremacists as your basis for discussion at each meeting. Be sure to refer to the Notes for each chapter starting on page 206.

Judges Rewrite the Constitution (Foreword, Chapter 1)

• Discuss the importance of self-government as the foundation of liberty.
• Will we be governed by elected representatives or by elitist, life-tenured, supremacist judges?
• Why should judges be like baseball umpires?
• List some important decisions that have been made by judges instead of by elected representatives.
• Is the “supreme law of the land” the Constitution or Supreme Court opinions?
• Did the Constitution give us judicial supremacy or separation of powers?
• What does it mean to say that the Constitution is a living and evolving document?
• Why can’t new Supreme Court appointments solve supremacy problems?
• What are some useful quotes from President Bush, Thomas Jefferson, Chief Justice John Marshall, Judge Robert Bork, and Justice Antonin Scalia?
• What did Judge Robert Bork say about activist judges?

Judges Censor Acknowledgment of God (Chapter 2)

• The First Amendment prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion. Do you think the government is establishing a religion when schoolchildren recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or when a copy of the Ten Commandments is posted in a courthouse or park?
• Since Congress passed the text of the Pledge of Allegiance a half century ago, and Ten Commandments monuments and plaques have been posted in public places for centuries, why are judges suddenly declaring these things a violation of the First Amendment which has been in effect since 1791?
• Discuss how the Supreme Court dealt with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments cases.
• When the Supreme Court banned prayer from public schools, how was this decision criticized by Harvard Law School Dean Erwin Griswold?
• Discuss the ACLU’s war on the Mount Soledad cross that has been in the courts for 17 years and cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Discuss the ACLU’s war on the Boy Scouts.
• Is the judicial attack on the Pledge, the Ten Commandments, prayer in schools, crosses, and the Boy Scouts all part of an attempt by the atheists to rewrite history and expunge our religious heritage?
• What did Chief Justice Rehnquist say about the judges’ hostility to religion?
• When did the Supreme Court’s hostility to religion begin?
• How can we get Congress to stop judges from their attempt to remove all references to religion from public life?

Judges Redefine Marriage (Chapter 3)

• Which states have ordered same-sex marriage licenses, and what part did state Equal Rights Amendments (ERA) play in those decisions?
• Was Justice Antonin Scalia correct when he said the judges have taken sides in the culture war?
• Is same-sex marriage a civil rights issue?
• Is same-sex marriage a judicial or a legislative issue?
• Explain the importance and text of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the 19 state constitutional marriage amendments.
• Has your state passed a constitutional amendment to protect marriage?
• How can we stop judicial supremacy about marriage?

Judges Undermine U.S. Sovereignty (Chapter 4)

• Are you shocked that U.S. judges say they can use foreign law or cases to decide American law and cases? Do you think using foreign sources violates judges’ oath of office to support the U.S. Constitution?
• How did the Supreme Court use foreign law to throw out the Texas anti-sodomy law?
• How did the Supreme Court use foreign law to overturn the laws of 20 states in regard to capital punishment for 17-year-olds.
• Discuss recent speeches made by Justices Ginsburg and O’Connor about the use of foreign law.
• Is there really any such thing as “international law”?

Judges Threaten Property Rights (Chapter 5)

• What does the U.S. Constitution say about the right of government to take your private property?
• Define: “public use,” “takings,” and “eminent domain.”
• What did John Adams say about the right of private property?
• How was the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren responsible for the modern practice of local governments using “eminent domain” power to take private property?
• How did the Supreme Court change the words of the Constitution in the Kelo case?
• Is the real motive of many government “takings” the desire to get more tax revenue into the hands of government?
• What has been public reaction to the Kelo decision? Has your state legislature taken action to prevent “takings” in your state?

Judges Promote Pornography (Chapter 6)

• Why did Judge Robert Bork say, “The suffocating vulgarity of popular culture is in large measure the work of the Court”?
• How did supremacist judges change the First Amendment from protection of our religious rights to protection for pornographers?
• How did pornography interests carry out a coordinated campaign to get the Supreme Court to redefine pornography and open the floodgates to porn?
• Discuss the radical change in Supreme Court decisions about pornography that was carried out by the Warren Court in the 1960s.
• Discuss the recent cases that knock down restrictions on internet porn and violent video games sold to teens.
• Was Justice Scalia correct when he said that the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas (the anti-sodomy case) “effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation”?

Judges Foster Feminism (Chapter 7)

• How did the Supreme Court invent a new right in the Fourteenth Amendment that no one else had seen there for a hundred years?
• Why do we say that Roe v. Wade is the godmother of judicial activism?
• How did ACLU attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg carry out her judicial strategy to override our laws, schools, armed services, and customs and make everything gender neutral?
• How has Ginsburg’s feminism influenced the Supreme Court?
• Why do we call Sandra Day O’Connor the stereotypical woman?
• Why do you think President Reagan appointed a woman to the Supreme Court who then voted twice for abortion, twice for gay rights, and twice against the Ten Commandments?
• Why do you think that Ginsburg was confirmed for Supreme Court justice by a vote of 97-3?
• Why didn’t Senators examine Ginsburg about her paper trail proving her extreme views about feminism and the law, and what were some of her weird ideas?

Judges Handicap Law Enforcement (Chapter 8)

• When did the Supreme Court start rewriting state laws about criminal law enforcement?
• Since the Constitution approves capital punishment, how do Supreme Court justices have the nerve to think they can amend the Constitution?
• Does the Constitution give the courts any role in amending the Constitution?
• What do you think about the judges’ demand that they be sheltered from criticism?
• What do you think judges and liberals mean when they demand an independent judiciary? Does that really mean an unaccountable judiciary — and do we want unaccountable judges?

Judges Invite Illegal Immigration (Chapter 9)

• Where did the notion come from that foreigners residing illegally in the United States should enjoy the same rights as American citizens?
• Where did the notion come from that U.S. taxpayers are obligated to admit the children of illegal aliens into public schools?
• How did a Supreme Court decision provide motivation for illegal aliens to sneak across our borders?
• How did it happen that our public schools suddenly started bilingual education?
• Read the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause and explain the significance of the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
• Should babies born to illegal aliens be citizens?
• Read the oath that everyone must take in order to become a naturalized U.S. citizen and explain why it would be a violation of the oath to claim a divided loyalty or dual citizenship with the immigrant’s native country.
• How does the Hamdi case show that accepting the notion of birthright citizenship can pose a national security danger?
• Explain why the Supreme Court case often cited as supporting dual citizenship (Afroyim) does not authorize dual citizenship with an immigrant’s native country.
• What are some of the population, social and economic effects of the Supreme Court giving some citizens’ rights to illegal aliens?

Judges Interfere with Elections (Chapter 10)

• To which body of government did the U.S. Constitution assign the conduct of elections?
• Which were the supremacist judges in the litigation about the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election — U.S. Supreme Court justices or Florida state supreme court judges?
• Should judges ever change election rules after the election is over — or after voting has begun?
• How did supremacist judges try to stop the California Recall election in 2003?
• How did supremacist judges rewrite New Jersey election law to help elect a Democratic U.S. Senator?
• Should judges be permitted to override state law and allow convicted felons to vote?
• Do we need to watch out for supremacist judges using foreign law to override the U.S. Constitution and allow felons to vote?

Judges Take Over Parents’ Rights (Chapter 11)

• Should we let supremacist judges get away with ruling that parents’ rights to control the upbringing of their children “does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door,” and that therefore a school has the right to teach anything it wishes about sex?
• How can judges have the power to rule that one atheist parent can silence all schoolchildren from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but no parent even has the right to object to or to opt out his child from instruction about sex, homosexuality, or Islam?
• What is the policy of the National Education Association about parents’ rights in public schools, and have they been successful in establishing their policy?
• What is it that makes family court judges so powerful and unaccountable?
• Have family courts adopted the notion that “it takes a village to raises a child”?
• Should parents or court-appointed experts decide what is “the best interest of the child”?
• Is there any legal, moral or scientific standard on which to judge “best interests of the child”?
• How have supremacist family court judges used divorce as an excuse to take over parents’ rights over the care and upbringing of their children?
• What do Supreme Court decisions say about the fundamental right of parents to the care of their own children?

Judges Impose Taxes (Chapter 12)

• Why is imposing taxes strictly a legislative function?
• What is the famous case that started the trend of judges imposing taxes, and what was the final result?
• How did Nevada succeed in getting around its state constitution in order to raise taxes?
• How are the judges assuming the power to order state legislatures to appropriate more money for public schools, which necessarily requires tax increases?
• Why do state legislators acquiesce in this invasion of legislative power and defiance of the separation of powers?

How Judicial Supremacy Began (Chapter 13)

• Explain how the famous early case of Marbury v. Madison started judicial review but not judicial supremacy.
• Is Marbury v. Madison an example of judicial supremacy or judicial restraint?
• What’s the difference between saying “what the law is” and saying “what it [the court] says is the law”?
• What was the first judicial supremacist decision and why don’t liberals like to talk about that case?
• Explain how Abraham Lincoln understood the proper role of judges.

How Judicial Supremacy Grew (Chapter 14)

• How did Earl Warren get the job of Chief Justice in 1953, and how did he set out to change the role of judges and the power of the Supreme Court?
• Discuss the pro-Communist decisions of the Warren Supreme Court in the 1950s and how Congress, the American people, and the ABA reacted to them.
• What was the little-known Supreme Court decision that grabbed judicial supremacy over the other branches of government?
• If the concept of judicial supremacy was not in the Constitution, and not in Marbury v. Madison, who started it and when did that happen?

How to Stop Judicial Supremacists (Chapter 15)

• Are the American people going to give up their rights of self-government and resign themselves to be ruled by unelected, unaccountable, life-tenured judges?
• If we agree with President Bush that we “will not stand for judges . . . legislating from the bench,” are there constitutional solutions to curb the power of judicial tyranny?
• What should we do if the Democrats filibuster President Bush’s next Supreme Court nomination?
• Does the Constitution give Congress the power to create, abolish, and regulate the jurisdiction of the federal courts?
• Has Congress ever taken away jurisdiction from the federal courts over subjects where Congress did not trust the courts?
• Do judges recognize that Congress has the power to limit judges’ power?
• Can Congress constitutionally pass a law prohibiting judges from banning the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, our national motto, and other acknowledgments of God in public forums — and if so, why hasn’t Congress done this?
• What are some recent examples of Congress withdrawing jurisdiction from federal courts?
• What are some ways that Congress and the executive branch can protect marriage in addition to passing a new constitutional amendment?
• Should Congress take action to prevent the Supreme Court from using foreign laws to interpret the U.S. Constitution?
• What should Congress do about supremacist judges who try to appropriate taxpayers’ money or raise taxes?
• How can Congress use its appropriations power to stop the public schools from interfering with parents’ rights?
• How can Congress stop a single judge from overturning a referendum passed by the majority of voters?
• Do we have the power to impeach judges for acts of supremacy?
• Should we prohibit judges from micromanaging public schools?
• Can Congress stop the collection of attorney’s fees when lawyers persuade supremacist judges to rule against the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, or the Boy Scouts?
• Why doesn’t Congress hold public investigations of judicial supremacy in order to educate the American people and the media about judicial mischief and possible solutions?
• What kind of a country do we want to live in: a land of self-government by elected representatives, or rule by elitist, supremacist judges who have grabbed power away from the other branches of government?
• Is it true that the Constitution is whatever the Supreme Court says it is?
• Is it true that whatever some judge says is the law of the land?