Religious Test

[RealGun]

The Supreme Court should not be completely untouchable. Pressure can be brought to bear if the Senate Judiciary Committee would routinely call Justices felt to be errant before a hearing. That's not what happens because the whole legal profession is trying to maintain collective decorum. To protect credibility of and respect for the Courts, they sacrifice credibility of and respect for the Courts. Everybody hates lawyers, especially judges appointed to life tenure. If the rule of law means anything, the law and the process should be more respectable, not something only geniuses can figure out..

 

[Al Norris]

If the rule of law means anything, the law and the process should be more respectable, not something only geniuses can figure out..

Which is why I implied at the beginning that Miers is at least as qualified as any other sitting Justice.

You or I, should be able to sit on that court. The legal footwork is always done by law clerks anyway, with stipulations by the Justice which way to research the decision.

Having written that, Congress would be utterly appalled to have a "normal" citizen sit in judgment. A normal citizen would have too much common sense to let the Congress pass laws that contravene the plain meaning of the Constitution. That much I will give to honest everyday work-a-joes... But I digress.

The question to me is whether or not the Constitution allows for any kind of religious test for federal office. I say it is not allowed. I say that the means Bush is using is in fact a religious test.

Now it is up to the Senate in its capacity to "advise and consent" to disallow this nominee, on two counts. One is the religious test used. The other is cronyism, which was specifically addressed as the reason for this clause, by the founders themselves (Federalist 76).