There's an anecdote about a lawyer presenting his case before the Supreme Court who used the word "judge" while addressing the court. One of the judges heatedly replied, "I am not a judge, I am the Chief Justice." This judge was a government employee.
The Constitution requires that "judges" serve on the Supreme Court and the president is given power to nominate "judges to the Supreme Court." The judge who made the comment above was unaware of the Constitutional requirement that judges serve on the Supreme Court, and by declaring that he was not a judge disqualified himself from his position.
In the Gideon decision, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants have a right to a lawyer. In his assenting opinion, Judge Harlan, in referring to a rule stating that a right to a lawyer is only available in special circumstances, such as a death penalty case, says, "Whether the rule should extend to all criminal cases need not now be decided."
The Fourth Amendment says, "In ALL (emphasis added) criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." Judge Harlan's statement is in direct contradiction to what the Constitution has always said. The right to counsel existed before the Supreme Court decided it. Judge Harlan, a government employee, was unaware of and did not do what the Constitution required him to do.
In the Hiibel decision, the Supreme Court ruled that we must give our identification to any law enforcement officer any time they ask, for any reason, or no reason at all. Judge Kennedy, in his assenting opinion, says that this ruling is justified, "by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of legitimate government interests."
Judge Kennedy, a government employee, is unaware that the government has only one legitimate interest, and that is to serve the interests of the people. That's what we set up the government to do, not to have its employees serving their own interests A good case can be made that any time the government rules or acts in its own interests, it's unconstitutional. Thomas Jefferson is claimed to have said that, "Any time the government loses, it's a victory for the people."
George Bush, a government employee, says that he is a "war President." With his Military Commissions Act, he has eliminated the foundation of the rule of law, habeas corpus. He says and does these things in spite of the fact that the Constitution says that, "Congress shall have power to declare war,' and that has not been done, and in spite of the fact that the Constitution says that, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended." The ony way that habeas corpus can be eliminated is by amending the Constitution, and that has not been done. Habeas corpus is in effect as long as it is in the Constitution. Passing a Military Commissions Act doesn't eliminate it because the act is unconstitutional.
Lefcourt said, "The people have the obligation to govern their government, and to throw it out when it refuses to be governed." Our government is in the hands of right-wing, conservative, Republican ideologues who are hell-bent on destroying our Constitution, our rule of law, our judicial system, our military, our economy, our moral and ethical standards, and just about everything else they can get their hands on. We must take Lefcourt literally. We have a legal precedent for the forcible and immediate removal of George Bush as President. It's the beginning sentence in that document that reads, "When in the course of human events..."
Do you remember the last scene in the old Frankenstein movie where the villagers arrived en masse at the castle with pitchforks and torches to do away with the monster? We need a Pitchforks and Torches Brigade to march to the White House and remove the monster.
