Yesterday I noted that Bryan Fischer and others had stumbled upon a novel justification for why they didn’t have to recognize court decisions they didn’t like by claiming that the Supreme Court has “original jurisdiction” in “all cases…in which a State shall be Party.”
As such, any ruling involving a state that was not decided by the Supreme Court first “has no legal weight” and does not carry “the slightest constitutional authority.”
As I pointed out, that means that any rulings in Virginia’s lawsuit against health-care reform are likewise illegitimate, as are all the rulings in countless other cases making their way through the federal court system.
But you don’t have to take my word for it, as even WorldNetDaily recognizes this simple fact:
[C]onstitutional expert Herb Titus, who is affiliated with the William J. Olson law firm, said the full text of the constitutional provision needs to be noted, because it does not provide the Supreme Court with “exclusive” original jurisdiction.
He noted the constitutional text:
“In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
It is that provision that allows Congress to make exceptions and regulations that provides the authority for Bolton’s court to hear the case, he noted.
“Could you imagine every case that involves a state as a party being before the Supreme Court. The court would be so loaded with those kinds of cases …” he said.
Another top constitutional expert, John Eidsmoe, of the Foundation for Moral Law, agreed.
“Congress can make exceptions out of that area,” he told WND. “What the courts have said in areas where the court has original jurisdiction, Congress by its power to create exceptions, can add [responsibility or authority].”
You know that your arguments are doomed when even WorldNetDaily agrees that they are utter nonsense.
