Thread: Ted Cruz criticizes DOJ for arguing international treaty can trump the Constitution

Ted Cruz criticizes DOJ for arguing international treaty can trump the Constitution

By JOEL GEHRKE | OCTOBER 30, 2013 AT 3:50 PM

Justice Department attorneys are advancing an argument at the Supreme Court that could allow the...

Justice Department attorneys are advancing an argument at the Supreme Court that could allow the government to invoke international treaties as a legal basis for policies such as gun control that conflict with the U.S. Constitution, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Their argument is that a law implementing an international treaty signed by the U.S. allows the federal government to prosecute a criminal case that would normally be handled by state or local authorities.

That is a dangerous argument, according to Cruz.

"The Constitution created a limited federal government with only specific enumerated powers," Cruz told the Washington Examiner prior to giving a speech on the issue today at the Heritage Foundation.

"The Supreme Court should not interpret the treaty power in a manner that undermines this bedrock protection of individual liberty,” Cruz said.

In his speech, Cruz said the Justice Department is arguing "an absurd proposition" that "could be used as a backdoor way to undermine" Second Amendment rights, among other things.

The underlying case, Bond v. United States, involves a woman charged with violating the international ban on chemical weapons because she used toxic chemicals to harass a former friend who had an affair with her husband.

Under the Constitution, such an offense would be handled at the state level. In Bond's case, the federal government prosecuted her under the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act.

That law implements the Chemical Weapons Convention, the international treaty Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is accused of violating in that country's vicious civil war.

"The problem here is precisely that Congress, rather than implementing the treaty consistent with our constitutional system of federalism, enacted a statute that, if construed to apply to petitioner’s conduct, would violate basic structural guarantees and exceed Congress's enumerated powers," according to Bond's lawyers.

The Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino said the Bond case could have ramifications for many other issues.

"If the administration is right, the treaty power could become a backdoor way for the federal government to do everything from abolishing the death penalty nationwide, to outlawing homeschooling, to dramatically curtailing the states' rights to regulate abortion," she told the Washington Examiner.

The Judicial Crisis Network is a conservative legal activist group.


Web URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2538205

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Cruz: Obama has ‘disturbing pattern’ of abusing power

Posted on 31 October, 2013 by clyde



via The Daily Caller
by Sarah Hurtubise

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz warned of creeping executive power and eroding national sovereignty in a Heritage Foundation talk Wednesday, telling the audience he found President Barack Obama’s willingness to abuse power “disturbing.”
In the upcoming Supreme Court case Bond v. U.S., Cruz explained, a Pennsylvania woman was charged by federal authorities with violating the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty, which is normally used to take down the likes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of using sarin gas against his own people.
In a case Cruz argued in front of the Supreme Court himself, President George W. Bush tried to force Texas state courts to recognize a ruling by the World Court.
But President Obama “has consistently flouted the constitutional limits on the authority of the president,” according to the freshman senator.
“The pattern of Obamacare has been really stunning,” Cruz said, picking out the employer mandate delayas an especially egregious example of the Obama administration’s tendency to usurp authority it doesn’t truly have.
“Now, for a couple hundred years, when a statute says there’s a legal obligation that applies on January 1, it meant on January 1,” Cruz said. “This administration simply said, ‘No, we’re not enforcing it.’”
“In fact,” Cruz continued, “they did so through a blog post, from a mid-level Treasury staffer that was posted on Friday afternoon.”
This “disturbing pattern” applied to drugs and immigration too, a problem even if you agree with the underlying policies that administration embraced on those issues.
“Now, as a policy matter, it may be that some people in this room agree with those policy decisions, particularly on the drug side,” Cruz continued, “but prior to this presidency the way you had reasonable modification to federal law was you went to Congress…and you passed a change in the law.”
Cruz chided Democrats for marching in lockstep behind the president.
“One of the things that has disturbed me is the almost total absence of Democrats speaking out at the abuse of the executive power by the Obama administration. I thought it was striking when Rand Paul did his filibuster on drone policy that only one Democrat showed up on the floor to support us,” Cruz said, commending Washington’s Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden for participating. “The other 53 Democrats apparently had no concerns that the administration used drones to target U.S. citizens.”
Cruz noted that he beat the Bush administration when he argued Medellin v. Texas in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. A 6-3 majority rule in Texas’ favor.
“I’m very proud that the state of Texas went before the U.S. Supreme Court and said, ‘No president — even if he is the former governor of Texas, and a Republican — no president has the authority to give away U.S. sovereignty.’”

http://gopthedailydose.com/2013/10/3...abusing-power/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/united-state...6/#post1377366