Separation of Powers

Have you heard the news. Until recently I hadn't heard it. We have a new Supreme Court Justice. I guess he's just a part-time justice since he has another full time job - president.

President Obama has just declared that the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed by both houses of congress and signed by President Clinton, is unconstitutional. He has also refused to lift the ban on deepwater drilling even though a real judge has ordered that the ban be lifted and we need our own supply of oil.

I wonder what would happen if a republican president acted in this way. What would happen, if in the future a republican president like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee or Donald Trump were to decide that the health care reform act is unconstitutional. The media and democrats would be calling for impeachment. There has not been much mention of this president's recent decision.

Does the president not realize that the constitution provides for separation of powers? The president is the executive and the supreme court is the judicial branch. It's as simple as that. The legislative branch makes the laws, the president signs them and the judicial decides on their propriety. Those are the three branches, not the branches that vice president Biden believes. He has been quoted as saying the branches are - the house, the senate and the white house.

The constitutionality of a law is decided by the judicial branch not the possible votes of one particular group.