PRESS
February
26, 2008 - Dean Scontras Opening Remarks "Plight of the
Constitution Forum" February 26, 2007
Thank you for the invitation to participate tonight in the
discussion of an issue of great importance - The Plight of
the Constitution. I appreciate the opportunity to honor the
Constitution and to share with you what I will do as your
next congressman to serve and protect it.
First, we can all agree that war in general suggests a failure
of great magnitude. It suggests a failure of all of our diplomatic,
political, economic and intelligence options. War should never
be taken lightly, and those of us applying for this job must
display an understanding and reverence for the constitution,
the balance of powers and the authority it places in our hands.
I believe the liberties afforded by our Constitution are,
in fact, in the balance. However, not by the political forces
here, where we are free to debate and dissent, but by those
forces who fear our fundamental values.
I think history, particularly the history of the Supreme
Court, provides us the clearest arc from the past to the future.
More so, the Supreme Court should provide us with continued
confidence in the strength of our Constitution. As Woodrow
Wilson said, "The Supreme Court is a kind of Constitutional
Convention in continual session." While the court may
not always remedy wrongs in a satisfactory time frame, our
Supreme Court has continually displayed the ability to correct
an overzealous branch.
Our country and our constitution have both faced great conflict
before. Those conflicts have at times raised many of the same
constitutional questions we are preparing to discuss this
evening. With each successive challenge, however, this country
has returned to the constitutional centerline, with the Supreme
Court serving as the balancing point of the three branches
of government. During times of conflict and crisis Americans
have always challenged the roles of the Executive branch,
Legislative branch and even the Judicial branch when they
felt that things were out of balance.
This was true at our nation's birth and remains true to this
day. It took several years before the Judicial branch established
the idea of Judicial review. Abraham Lincoln declared martial
law and suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, pushing
the envelope of the Executive power at the expense of civil
rights. Reconstruction was a judicial struggle between civil
rights and states rights. Franklin Delano Roosevelt challenged
the very composition of the Supreme Court after the court
found his New Deal legislation unconstitutional. Most recently,
the court refused the president the authority to convene military
tribunals without the consent of Congress. If it gives us
all any solace - Constitutionally, we have been here before.
Therefore, I cannot in good conscience support the idea of
impeachment. It may scratch a political itch for some who
have strong ideological differences with the administration,
but impeachment is not an antidote for an unpopular administration.
I believe the crisis of our times is great and vital - Our
very Democracy is under attack. But I cannot join in the chorus
of if's and but's, maybe's and could have been's. Instead,
I can only offer my thoughts on the struggle we are now engaged
in, the constitutional questions we now face and how I believe
we should proceed. The struggle we are in now will define
our generation, and will impact many generations to come.
Failure to show proper resolve in the face of it jeopardizes
the future of the very Constitution we discuss this evening.
So, I stand this evening as a voice of dissent - my right
as protected by the Constitution. I have faith in our Founders,
in all the great men and women who fought and died defending
it and our right to argue about it tonight. Thank you.
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