A Piece of a Woman's Mind

The government of the United States was created with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative branch is the Congress composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The executive branch is led by the President who is supported by his Cabinet and various federal entities under his control. The judicial branch is the Supreme Court. Each branch has its own powers which are described in the Constitution or have become legislated, understood and/or allowed by the course of dealing in the government since the Constitution went into effect in 1789.

The concept of checks and balances was inherent in the powers granted to each branch. If one branch took an action that one of the other branches didn’t like, it could use its powers to check and/or override that action. The theory was that if each branch was doing its job, the power in the government would remain balanced and democracy would flourish.

In past blogs I have criticized the Supreme Court because in its long history it has been dominated by White males who are by definition not representative of our population that consists of fifty percent females and varying percentages of people who identify as other than White. My criticism stands even though the current court has four females, two Black justices, and one Latina justice. The Court has just concluded another session of hearing cases and releasing their rulings on those cases.

Whether you like their rulings or not, one thing becomes very clear. The justices are required to render their opinions based on current law. Their written rulings cite language from the law and then discuss the justices’ interpretation of that law. Sometimes the rulings will include a statement to the effect that if the citizens want a change in the law, it is up to the Congress to pass new or amended legislation. That is the way the Congress can check the ruling by the Court. Not specifically stated is that until the Congress changes the law, the Supreme Court’s most recent decision stands as the reigning version of the law of the land.

Some people criticize the Court for making new laws through their interpretation of existing laws. This may seem to be true if the current interpretation differs greatly from what had been the preceding interpretation of the law. But in either case, the law being interpreted was written and passed by the Congress. A recent example is the Court’s opinion on Roe v. Wade. In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled that making abortions illegal in the States violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which ensures a citizen’s right to privacy. A person’s right to control her own body was considered part of her right to privacy. The Court ruled that State regulation of a person’s body in the case of abortion was unconstitutional. This ruling established a constitutional precedent recognizing a woman’s right to end her pregnancy. The current Court has struck down that interpretation and allows the individual States to make their own laws governing a woman’s right to an abortion.

The Congress had from 1973 to 2022 – 49 years – to pass a federal law protecting a woman’s right to get an abortion. Our Representatives and Senators spent 49 years sitting on their asses, drawing their salaries paid by us, the people, ignoring the opinions of their constituencies in poll after poll, and not passing a federal law protecting a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body in the case of an abortion. It was their job to exercise their powers to be certain that the Supreme Court did not by default make laws for them. CONGRESS DID NOTHING.

The Roe v. Wade decision is just one example. Our Congress has become totally ineffectual through years of dithering, politicking and inaction. Their refusal to do their job is causing a great imbalance in the three branches of our federal government. A GREAT IMBALANCE IN OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AND OUR DEMOCRACY. This has nothing to do with political parties per se. This has to do with our Representatives and Senators being on the take from special interests. Many of the men and women in Congress are more concerned with their own power and wealth than they are with reflecting the opinions and demands of their constituents.

In our US democracy, we, the people, are allowed to vote for our Represen-tatives and Senators. This is not a casual privilege. It is a right and a duty. If you are frustrated by the actions of the Supreme Court and the President, the Congress has the power to check the actions of those two branches of the government. But they have to act. They have to start doing their jobs. This coming November registered, eligible voters will have a chance to vote for their Representatives and some of their Senators. This is your chance to send a message to the incumbents and candidates running in your states about what kind of job you want them to do and what issues you want them to vote for in the Congress. Consider carefully. Do you want to send the incumbent home or retain him? Do you want to give someone new a chance to do a better job than has been done in the past? If you are tired of the imbalance in our national government, PLEASE VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!