Restore the U.S. Constitution..

Submitted by Bill Crosier on February 29, 2008 - 5:10pm. :: |

To get a copy of this resolution formatted for printing, so you can take it with you to your precinct convention, click on the link in the Attachment box below.

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution, federal statutes and treaties are the supreme law of the United States of America, ensuring our democracy, the separation of powers and the rule of law;

WHEREAS, The Constitution, through its amendments, including the Bill of Rights, provides the people our civil liberties and guarantees of liberty; and

WHEREAS, The Framers of the Constitution considered the rule of law essential to the safekeeping of social order and civil liberties, understanding that it calls for both individuals and the government to submit to the law's supremacy; and

WHEREAS, The Constitution further provides for our federal servants, including the President, to take an oath of office, promising to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, and obliges the president to ensure the faithful execution of laws; and

WHEREAS, Bedrock Constitutional Rights and 800 year old conventions are under siege through this administration's use of presidential executive orders and signing statements and the president's Military Commissions Act, which cast aside the Constitution and the principle of habeas corpus that protect us against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment; and

WHEREAS, the Protect America Act (PAA) allowed for massive, untargeted collection of international communications without court order or meaningful oversight by either Congress or the courts, and provided no protection for individuals leaving decisions about the collection, mining and use of private communications up to this administration and this administration ordered illegal surveillance of US electronic communications even before the passage of the PAA; and

WHEREAS, These Executive Orders, Signing Statements and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 fundamentally alter our justice system, undermine the rule of law and the separation of powers, and erode our civil liberties by creating military tribunals with officers who sit as judge and jury, and which allow secret evidence, secret witnesses, secret verdicts including secret death sentences, by allowing the president in his sole discretion to designate enemy combatants and serve as judge and jury of what are abuse and torture, and by arguing for retroactive immunity to government officials who authorized or ordered illegal acts of torture and abuse; therefore be it

RESOLVED that executive orders, signing statements, laws and departmental procedures and orders implemented during this administration that have undermined our civil liberties, compromised our right to privacy, and subverted our constitution including but not limited to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, be repealed and rescinded.

This resolution was written by C. Lee Taylor, Feb. 2008, and replaces an older one (Feb. 2006) entitled "Preserve Civil Liberties and Privacy)".


AttachmentSize
Restore_Constitution08.pdf46.38 KB