Zombies in Congress

What, exactly, is a zombie?  No, really, what is a zombie, not a movie zombie, but a “real” zombie??  A zombie is a dead human being who refuses to be dead.  Just like those guys in Congress with their inability to take the Constitution for an answer.

The (Republican) House yesterday (May 13th, 2015) passed, by a solid 242-184 vote, H.R. 36, The “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”  This bill, among other things, makes it illegal nationally for a physician to perform an abortion on a 20 week old fetus.  The only problem with this bill being made law is: it is illegal!

Putting aside whether the Senate will pass it (the threat of a filibuster will kill it), putting aside whether the President will sign it into law (he has promised a veto), putting these obstacles aside and pretending that it gets passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, it is illegal because it runs afoul of the Constitution.

Let me explain.  The “U. S. Constitution” is not just the original text of the document itself as signed by 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, it includes the Bill of Rights, it includes the more recent 17 amendments, and it includes all Supreme Court decisions since then, except for those that have been reversed by a more recent Supreme Court decision.  In this case, H.R. 36 runs afoul of Roe v Wade, that infamous Court decision of 1973.  In particular, Roe v. Wade granted the states, one by one, sole jurisdiction regarding abortions during the second trimester (weeks 14 through 26).  To be 100% clear, the federal government has no authority to prohibit abortions during that time frame; only the states have that power.  Unless and until they go before the Supreme Court and get Roe v. Wade modified or overturned.  Or ratify an amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

These zombies in Congress are just wasting your money, making theater for their own base: pro-Life proponents who don’t care about the niceties of law (I am not mocking pro-Life people, whom I totally respect for their views; I am just mocking those who don’t care about legal hurdles that are being ignored by their representatives -- who know that they are only playing).