James W. Ziglar Quotes
There is a problem. We do have this little thing called the Constitution.
Despite Ziglar’s and other officials pointing out the illegality, illegal sweeps and arrests were made without warrants or constitutional requirements.
James W. Ziglar, Director, U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (Republican), Reply to the Attorney General’s Chief of Staff who had instructed him to conduct mass sweeps and arrests of Moslem neighborhoods throughout the county right after the September 11 attack
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Powell was the Secretary of State and Addington kept advising the administration that as long as the President was acting in defense of the country in his capacity as Commander in Chief, he did not have to obey any existing laws that had been Constitutionally passed which in the opinion of the President restricted or limited the President or the executive branch. Addington was an attorney and Assistant to the Vice President, but he was given much responsibility for administration policy. Powell the Secretary of State of the Administration could not have disagreed more and although most politicians including Republicans disagreed with the Addington thesis, Powell was one of the few Republicans to criticize the Addington position.
One of the conundrums of our constitutional system is who has the last word as to what the Constitution means. Essentially it is the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. But there are those who believe that the current popular majority should have a say in what is or is not constitutional. If so the legislative branch should have the last word. Still others say that the President is the only person elected by ALL the people, so his opinion most reflects the will of the public. And then there are most who argue that the Constitutional system was created just to avoid the power of currently popular majorities, and the courts should decide based on the Constitution itself. So the statement has very little meaning except that Phillips thinks that the courts have too much power. Whoever gets to decide what is or is not Constitutional will be accused of being “over” the Constitution by those who don’t like the decisions. In our system, that is the courts.
See John Marshall's later (1803) use of the concept and term "repugnant." {606483}
This was an insult to the George W. Bush administration which had stretched the Constitution more so than any previous administration, had asserted Presidential powers that had never been asserted before and had had several of its more controversial policies and practices overturned by the Supreme Court.
The president was asked if he supported the Supreme court's school desegregation decision:
