[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       JUDGES ABUSING THEIR POWER

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk 
lately about Federal judges abusing their power. Federal judges have 
been ignoring the will of the people by overturning elections and 
legislating from the bench.
  Judge Thelton Henderson did just that last year when he disregarded 
the will of 5 million California voters. He issued an injunction 
prohibiting the enactment of California's Proposition 209, which passed 
with 54 percent of the vote in November of 1994. Yesterday a 3-judge 
appeals panel voted 3-0 to overturn Henderson's ruling and allow the 
enactment of Proposition 209.
  The panel said, and I quote, ``A system which permits one judge to 
block with the stroke of a pen what over four million State residents 
voted to enact as law tests the integrity of our constitutional 
democracy.''
  I agree and applaud an all-America panel, 3-judge panel, for having 
the integrity to remind colleagues that they are there to interpret the 
law and not create it.

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