Letters 11-16-2015

Nov. 13, 2015

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A Constitutional Mess

Stephen Tuttle, in his Nov 2nd column, shows again that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Article 3, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says absolutely nothing about power of constitutional review. Neither does any other part of Article 3, which deals with the judiciary.

The power of constitutional review is based on Marbury vs. Madison, in which the Supreme Court assumed (usurped would be a better word) this power. It is, in effect, English common law, judgemade law, outside the constitutionally delegated jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The ruling was accepted at the time, as almost two-thirds of the framers were lawyers trained in English law; they were used to this. Jefferson warned about the judiciary becoming a super branch but was ignored.

Tuttle’s rant against original intent is largely irrelevant, to say nothing of wrong. Original intent is, or should be, the intent of the provision upon which a ruling of constitutionality is based. This should be determined by reading original documentation like the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, the debates in convention, and newspaper coverage of the time.

Some of this intent has been changed or eliminated by amendment, in which cases the original intent of the amendment cited becomes the basis for the ruling. Or this is how it should be, instead of judges just deciding willy-nilly what they want and then twisting or making things up to justify their rulings. Now we have a judicial oligarchy instead of a republic, and our elected representatives are merely advisors cowering before courts.

Congress could rectify this under Article 3, Section 2 but it won’t. Court rulings provide too much convenient political cover for both parties.

Charles Knapp, Maple City

Applause For All First Ladies

Great article and well-deserved attention in a recent cover story about Sandra Carden and her contributions to yoga in our community since the 1970s. However, there are several other talented and generous women yoga instructors who have brought yoga to our area for as long, and deserve such attention: Libby Robold (Yoga for Health & Education, Traverse; she also teaches teachers), Sally Van Vleck (Neahtawanta Inn & Retreat Center, Traverse), and Mary Reilly (Northwoods Yoga, Petoskey). Many thanks and gratitude for ALL of our First Ladies of Yoga!

Lisa Franseen, Traverse City