HF 1651

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             appealing to the Congress of the United States to 
  1.3             limit the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts 
  1.4             regarding the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance 
  1.5             in public schools. 
  1.6      
  1.7      WHEREAS, Minnesota is one of numerous states that recites 
  1.8   the Pledge of Allegiance in its public schools; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, the practice of including "under God" in the 
  1.10  Pledge was established by federal law decades ago and reaffirmed 
  1.11  by a new federal law just last year; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, recent polls indicate that the public, up to 90 
  1.13  percent, is overwhelmingly in favor of allowing students to 
  1.14  recite the Pledge of Allegiance; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, Constitution signer George Washington declared, 
  1.16  "the fundamental principle of our Constitution...enjoins 
  1.17  [requires] that the will of the majority shall prevail," and 
  1.18  Thomas Jefferson similarly pronounced, "the will of the majority 
  1.19  [is] the natural law of every society [and] is the only sure 
  1.20  guardian of the rights of man"; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson also stated, "A judiciary 
  1.22  independent...of the will of the nation is a solecism [wrong] - 
  1.23  at least in a republican government; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, the 9th Circuit has violated these fundamental 
  1.25  principles and abrogated the "consent of the governed" as set 
  2.1   forth in our governing documents; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, the will of the people can be protected against 
  2.3   further judicial usurpation from any other federal court on this 
  2.4   issue through congressional action to limit the jurisdiction of 
  2.5   the federal courts as explicitly set forth in the Constitution 
  2.6   in Article III, Section 2, Paragraph 2 (federal courts "shall 
  2.7   have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact with such 
  2.8   exceptions and under such regulations as Congress shall make"; 
  2.9   and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, the intent of our Framers regarding this power of 
  2.11  Congress to limit judicial overreach was clear, such as when 
  2.12  Samuel Chase (a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a 
  2.13  U.S. Supreme Court Justice appointed by President George 
  2.14  Washington) declared, "The notion has frequently been 
  2.15  entertained that the federal courts derive their judicial power 
  2.16  immediately from the Constitution; but the political truth is 
  2.17  that the disposal of the judicial power (except in a few 
  2.18  specified instances) belongs to Congress.  If Congress has given 
  2.19  the power to this court, we possess it, not otherwise"; and 
  2.20     WHEREAS, Justice Joseph Story, in his authoritative 
  2.21  Commentaries on the Constitution, similarly declared, "In all 
  2.22  cases where the judicial power of the United States is to be 
  2.23  exercised, it is for Congress alone to furnish the rules of 
  2.24  proceeding, to direct the process, to declare the nature and 
  2.25  effect of the process, and the mode, in which the judgments, 
  2.26  consequent thereon, shall be executed...And if Congress may 
  2.27  confer power, they may repeal it...The power of Congress [is] 
  2.28  complete to make exceptions"; and 
  2.29     Whereas, this position is confirmed not only by signers of 
  2.30  the Constitution such as George Washington and James Madison, 
  2.31  but also by other leading constitutional experts and jurists of 
  2.32  the day, including Chief Justice John Rutledge, Chief Justice 
  2.33  Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice John Marshall, Richard Henry 
  2.34  Lee, Robert Yates, George Mason, and John Randolph; and 
  2.35     WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has long 
  2.36  recognized and affirmed this power of Congress to limit the 
  3.1   appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts, as in 1847 when 
  3.2   the court declared that the "court possesses no appellate power 
  3.3   in any case unless conferred upon it by act of Congress" and in 
  3.4   1865 when it declared "it is for Congress to determine how 
  3.5   far...appellate jurisdiction shall be given; and when conferred, 
  3.6   it can be exercised only to the extent and in the manner 
  3.7   prescribed by law"; and 
  3.8      WHEREAS, Congress has on numerous occasions exercised this 
  3.9   power to limit the jurisdiction of federal courts, and the 
  3.10  Supreme Court has consistently upheld this power of Congress in 
  3.11  rulings over the last two centuries, including cases in 1847, 
  3.12  1866, 1868, 1876, 1878, 1882, 1893, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1906, 
  3.13  1908, 1910, 1922, 1926, 1948, 1952, 1966, 1973, 1977, and so on; 
  3.14  and 
  3.15     WHEREAS, it is Congress alone that can remedy this current 
  3.16  crisis and return to the states the power to make their own 
  3.17  decisions on recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public 
  3.18  schools; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  3.19     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  3.20  that it respectfully appeals to the Congress of the United 
  3.21  States to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts 
  3.22  regarding the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public 
  3.23  schools. 
  3.24     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.25  State of Minnesota shall transmit copies of this memorial to the 
  3.26  Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  3.27  Representatives, the President and the Secretary of the United 
  3.28  States Senate, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in 
  3.29  Congress.