Constitution in Exile How The Federal Government Has Seized Power By Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land

Introduction ; ; ROOTS OF THE ; CURRENT DEBATE ; What Rosa Parks Knew That We Forget ; To understand the Constitution and where it came from, we ; must look at its counterpart, the Declaration of Independence, ; and we must understand the Natural Law that grounds both ; documents. ;Whether they realize it or not, most contemporary legal scholars ; and politicians in the Western world stand behind two competing ; theories about the origins of law and liberty: Natural Law and ; Positivism. The Natural Law school of thought argues that freedom ; comes by virtue of being created human, from our very nature, and ; holds that laws created by kings or legislatures are always secondary ; to the Natural Law. It is the royal flush against which any other law ; is merely a pair of deuces. ;This is not a new concept. The Greek writer Sophocles "recognizes ; the reality that human laws are subject to a higher law," ; according to my professor of constitutional law and jurisprudence ; at Notre Dame Law School, Charles E. Rice. Similarly, Aristotle ; observed that "one part of what is politically just is natural, and the ; other part is legal." Cicero described it as "the highest reason, ; ; implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and ; forbids the opposite." Writes Cicero, "Right is based, not upon men's ; opinion [from popular legislatures], but upon Nature." ;In more recent times, Justice Clarence Thomas, writing about ; the "higher law political philosophy" of the Founding Fathers, stated, ;"Natural rights and higher law arguments are the best defense of liberty ;and of limited government. Moreover, without recourse to ;higher law, we abandon our best defense of judicial review--a judiciary ;active in defending the Constitution. Rather than being a justification ;for the worst type of judicial activism, higher law is [the] ;only alternative to the willfulness of both run-amok majorities [in ;Congress] and run-amok judges [in federal courts]." ; Natural Law theory teaches that the law extends from human ; nature, which is created by God. The Natural Law theory states that ; because all human beings desire freedom from artificial restraint ; and because all human beings yearn to be free, our freedoms must ; stem from our very humanity--and ultimately from the Creator of ; humanity. ;Perhaps no one can answer the question of "What is the Natural ; Law?" more clearly than Professor Rice: "Natural law will seem mysterious ; if we forget that everything has a law built into its nature. . . . ; If you eat a barbed-wired sandwich, it will not be good for you. If ; you want your body to function well, you ought not to treat it as if ; it were a trash compactor. Natural law is easy to understand when ; we are talking about physical nature. But it applies as well to the ; moral sphere." ;Think of your human experience as derived from God, as Rice ; has suggested, like a car that is derived from its manufacturer. God ; (or the Universal Spirit if you are not religious) is the manufacturer ; of your life. God created you and sent along a manual, much like the ; vehicle manufacturer includes in the glove compartment of your car ; ; (does anyone actually keep gloves in them?). The manufacturer ; wants you to drive your car successfully so that you and your friends ; will buy more cars, so it gives you tips on how to maintain the car ; and how to get out of trouble should it break down. Likewise, ; according to the Natural Law, God has equipped youNapolitano, Andrew P. is the author of 'Constitution in Exile How The Federal Government Has Seized Power By Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land', published 2006 under ISBN 9781595550309 and ISBN 1595550305.