[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6135]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    NINTH CIRCUIT--JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, for years the Federal courts have drifted 
towards judicial activism, and nowhere is this dangerous trend more 
fully embraced than the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Based in San 
Francisco and covering nine western States, the Ninth Circuit has given 
us some of the more outrageous decisions in recent memory. These are 
the folks who say the words ``under God'' are unconstitutional in our 
pledge. Fortunately for our Nation and our Constitution this mostly 
Democrat-appointed court isn't the last defense against judicial 
activism. The U.S. Supreme Court regularly reviews the Ninth Circuit's 
rulings, and not surprisingly, the high court often overturns them. In 
fact, in this term the Supreme Court has overturned every Ninth Circuit 
ruling it has taken up. If you break it out by the votes of the 
individual Justices, the score is 67 votes to overturn and just five 
votes to uphold. These are definitely second-string back benchers. It 
is time they begin interpreting the Constitution, not rewriting it.

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