I Say Pluck Them!

Last night the battle was lost, but not the war! Obama, Pelosi, and the Democrats burned up a lot of political capital pushing through the most unpopular legislation in American history. The back room deals, the bribes, the sleaze, and filth makes even their supporters queasy seeing things done, never done before. How is that Hope and Change thing working out? Where is the reaching out across the aisle? We did see that much talked about bipartisanship, where 34 Democrats had the courage to vote for their constituents, and for America over the threats of Obama and Pelosi. Only Progressive Democrats voted for it.

There will be all kinds of dances going on in the Senate, and challenges by the Republicans, however, the defeat of Obamacare will come in the Supreme Court. There appears that soon 39 different individual State Attorney Generals are going to sue the Federal government on the Un-Constitutionality of this bill. There are so many different issues that are Un-Constitutional. They are mandating you buy, they can't do that. They are mandating you buy what they approve, they can't do that? They are giving the IRS power to monitor your bank accounts and punish you if you are not buying a policy they approve. They can't do that. They are telling what features you must buy, they can't do that. They are giving special deals to different states, and two different religious groups, they can't do that.

The courts should start seeing dozens of suits from individual states, from businesses large and small, and from hopefully millions of individual Americans. One of the groups already getting ready to file suit is the American Center for Law and Justice, a group with a high success rate of defeating anti-Christian laws and the ACLU. You can join with them at www.aclj.org.

Once before America was being torn asunder to a Socialist take over of the private sector. It was the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, the NIRA. It was the first major instrument of FDR's attempt to over come the depression. It was far reaching into determining "fair" competition legislated by the government with more than 750 different codes. The Act declared a National emergency and used that to justify Congressional action under the Commerce and General Welfare clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The same one that Obama and the Democrats are using today.

Then came four chicken pickers who took on the most powerful president in history, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Schechter Poultry Corporation, owned and operated by Joseph, Martin, Alex, and Aaron Schechter, was in the business of selling chickens at wholesale. The corporation purchased some of the poultry from outside the state of New York. It bought the poultry at markets and railroad terminals in New York City and sold the poultry to retailers in the city and surrounding areas. In April 1934 President Roosevelt approved the code of fair competition for the live poultry industry of the New York City metropolitan area (Live Poultry Code). In July 1934 the Schechters were arrested and indicted on SIXTY counts of violating the Live Poultry Code. The indictment included charges that Schechter Poultry had failed to observe the "minimum wage" and "maximum hour" provisions applicable to workers and that it had violated a provision of the Live Poultry Code prohibiting the sale of unfit chickens. The case became popularly known as the Sick Chicken case.

The Schechters pleaded not guilty to the charges. At trial, the Schechters were convicted on eighteen counts of violating the Live Poultry Code and two counts of conspiring to violate the Live Poultry Code. An appeals court affirmed their convictions, but the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear their appeal.

The Schechters presented several arguments challenging the Live Poultry Code. According to the Schechters, the code system of the NIRA was an unconstitutional abdication of the legislative power vested in Congress by Article I, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution. The Schechters argued further that their intrastate wholesale business was not subject to congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution and that the procedures for enforcing the NIRA codes violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The Court unanimously disagreed with the federal government. Under the Commerce Clause, Congress had the power to regulate commerce between the states, not intrastate commerce. The power to enact legislation on intrastate commerce was reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Court reversed the Schechters' convictions and declared the Live Poultry Code unconstitutional.

The Schechter decision was decided around the same time as other, similar Supreme Court decisions striking down federal attempts to address the economic crises of the Depression. However, the Schechter decision was a particularly troublesome setback for the Roosevelt administration. The NIRA was the centerpiece of Roosevelt's plan to stabilize the national economy (the New Deal), and the government's loss in the Sick Chicken case marked the end of the NIRA and its fair trade codes.

Less than one week after the Schechter decision was announced, Roosevelt publicly condemned the Court. Roosevelt declared that the Court's "horse-and-buggy definition of interstate commerce" was an obstacle to national health.

Roosevelt's remarks were controversial because they appeared to cross the line that separated the powers of the executive branch from those of the judicial branch. Nevertheless, they sparked a national debate on the definition of interstate commerce, the role of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the limits of federal power. Several citizens and federal legislators began to propose laws and constitutional amendments in an effort to change the makeup of the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court delivered another series of opinions in 1936 that nullified New Deal legislation, Roosevelt began to push for legislation that would modify the makeup of the Court. Roosevelt wanted to add 6 more Justices to give it 15 so he could stack it with his own people to over ride the Court.

Congress never enacted Roosevelt's so-called court-packing plan