In his November “First Friday” address, “Defending Congress And The Constitution: The Supreme Court Is Not the Final Word,” Dr. Louis Fisher made the following points:
–There is no evidence any of the framers of our Constitution thought the U.S. Supreme Court was the final word regarding how the Constitution must be interpreted.
–If the Supreme Court was smart the high court would announce it is not the final word regarding how the Constitution must be interpreted.
–Properly understood, nothing in the Marbury v. Madison case says the U.S. Supreme Court is the final word on the U.S. Constitution.
–The U.S. Supreme Court has contradicted and/or reversed itself many times showing that the high court itself does not believe it is the final word on the U.S. Constitution.
–Since 1950, Presidents have ignored the U.S. Constitution in going to war believing they can go to war on their own.
–Presidential proclamations are not law, as George Washington was told by Congress, and, ultimately, agreed.
Michael A. Peroutka addresses our November First Friday audience with the short essay "Evolution is Anti-American"
A DVD of this presentation will be available in our “Store”, on this site, in December.
Dr. Fisher is Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project. Previously he worked for four decades at the Library of Congress as Senior Specialist in Separation of Powers (Congressional Research Service, from 1970 to 1996) and Specialist in Constitutional Law (the Law Library, from 2006 to 2010. During his service with CRS he was research director of the House Iran-Contra Committee in 1987, writing major sections of the final report Dr. Fisher has testified before Congress more than 50 times.