[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 159 (Tuesday, December 13, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11473-H11474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ALITO CORRECT ON CONSTITUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks, I 
would also like to congratulate Mr. Dingell for his 50 years of service 
to this institution and to his country.
  Mr. Speaker, it has come to the attention of the American people that 
the President's nominee for United States Supreme Court, Judge Samuel 
Alito, wrote in a job application at the Justice Department some 20 
years ago statements to the effect that the Constitution does not 
protect a right to an abortion. Judge Alito's statements regarding Roe 
v. Wade reflect a widely

[[Page H11474]]

held belief by many judges and lawyers and scholars across the 
political spectrum. These legal experts recognize that Roe v. Wade was 
indeed bad law created out of whole cloth by an unelected Supreme Court 
seeking to legislate its social agenda from the bench.
  Ironically, if Roe v. Wade was overturned today, it would not end 
abortion on demand. It would simply leave the matter to the States and 
to the people through their elected representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, this was not the vision of our Founding Fathers. They 
wrote the U.S. Constitution to specifically protect those that were 
most innocent and to protect the most basic civil right of all, that 
being life itself.
  The preamble to the Constitution sums up the entirety of their 
reasons for establishing a constitution in the first place, that we, 
the people, to ``secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America.''
  The Constitution expressly states in plain language that one of the 
primary purposes for its existence is to secure the blessings of 
liberty to our future children. The phrase in the 14th amendment sums 
up the entire document. It says, ``No State shall deprive any person of 
life, liberty or property without due process of law.''
  Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of the innocent and their 
constitutional rights is why this government exists. How does it secure 
the blessings of liberty to our posterity to sacrifice their very lives 
upon the altar of convenience?
  Judge Alito was correct; the Constitution does not guarantee the 
right to hire someone to kill an innocent unborn child and dispose of 
the body. Our Founding Fathers put pen to paper and proclaimed: We hold 
these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and 
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  When our Founding Fathers proclaimed those words, the course of human 
history was forever changed.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to have this debate on abortion out in the 
open.

                              {time}  2015

  Those who promote abortion on demand ignore the Constitution and the 
original intent of our Founding Fathers who took great care to 
structure a foundation for self-governance that safeguards innocent 
life and human dignity. America will not remain free if we claim for 
ourselves the right to destroy innocent human lives simply because they 
are unwanted or they are at our mercy, or because they lack even the 
voice to cry out. We cannot embrace the notion that by our own choice 
we determine the dignity or worth of other human beings. That is the 
principle of might makes right, and this Nation was founded to dispel 
that depraved injustice.
  Mr. Speaker, the future of this country in freedom depends that the 
fundamental principle which guarantees the right to the divine gift of 
life and liberty to each of us must remain intact. This is America's 
creed. This is our foundation. It is so very simple. We are not born 
equal; we do not become equal when we reach a certain level of 
development or age or status. All human beings are created equal. That 
principle of human equality must not be discarded by the United States 
of America, because if Americans in the 21st century cannot or will not 
sustain the will and the courage to protect the innocent, in the final 
analysis we will never sustain the will or the courage to protect any 
kind of liberty for anyone.
  Mr. Speaker, as the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito moves forward, 
let us all just remind ourselves that we are Americans, that we walk on 
the freest soil, and that we breathe the freest air of any people in 
human history. There is nothing more American than defending innocent 
human life. So now it is up to this generation, Mr. Speaker, to protect 
the God-given life to live so that future generations will say of us 
that we justify our brief moment here. God bless America.

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