September 23, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H7451 and environmentally responsible thing with respect to the jurisdiction of Fed- fect of invalidating the Pledge across to do. eral courts inferior to the Supreme several States, or nationwide, H.R. 2028 f Court over certain cases and controver- will preserve to State courts the au- sies involving the Pledge of Allegiance, thority to decide whether the Pledge is OUTRAGEOUS SALES TAX with Mr. SHAW in the chair. valid within that State’s boundaries. It (Mr. SHERMAN asked and was given The Clerk read the title of the bill. will place final authority or a State’s permission to address the House for 1 The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the pledge policy in the hands of the States minute and to revise and extend his re- rule, the bill is considered as having themselves. marks.) been read the first time. H.R. 2028 as reported by the Com- Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise Under the rule, the gentleman from mittee on the Judiciary is identical to to address a bill by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. SENSENBRENNER) and H.R. 3313, the Marriage Protection Act, which the House passed just prior to Georgia (Mr. LINDER). It is co-spon- the gentleman from New York (Mr. sored by the majority leader, a bill NADLER) each will control 30 minutes. the August recess except that it ad- which the President has indicated he The Chair recognizes the gentleman dresses the Pledge rather than the De- looks upon favorably. It is to abolish from Wisconsin (Mr. SENSENBRENNER). fense of Marriage Act. If different the income tax and impose a ‘‘23 per- Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Chair- States come to different decisions re- cent sales tax on all Americans.’’ man, I yield myself such time as I may garding the constitutionality of the Pledge, the effects of such decisions First, I headed the largest sales tax consume. Mr. Chairman, the Pledge of Alle- will be felt only within those States. A agency in the world for 6 years, and I giance reads: ‘‘I pledge allegiance to few Federal judges sitting hundreds of am going to tell you, you cannot ad- the Flag of the United States of Amer- miles away from your State will not be minister a 23 percent sales tax. That is ica, and to the Republic for which it able to rewrite your State’s Pledge pol- why Europe uses a value added tax. stand, one Nation, under God, indivis- icy. Second, a 23 percent tax would not ible, with liberty and justice for all.’’ A remedy to abuses by Federal judges replace the revenue. It would leave our Two words in the Pledge, ‘‘under has long been understood to lie, among troops in the field without the supplies God,’’ help define our national heritage other places, in Congress’s authority to they need. as beneficiaries of a Constitution sent limit Federal court jurisdiction. The Third, imagine a billionaire decides to the States for ratification, as the Constitution clearly provides that the to travel to luxury resorts in France Constitution itself states, ‘‘in the Year lower Federal courts are entirely crea- for an entire year. His property is pro- of our Lord,’’ 1787, by a founding gen- tures of Congress as much as appellate tected by the American Army, his per- eration that saw itself guided by a jurisdiction of the Supreme Court ex- son is protected, he enjoys all the joys providential God. Those two words, and cluding its only very limited, constitu- of being an American citizen and pays their entirely proper presence in the tional, original jurisdiction over cases absolutely zero in tax. system of government defined by our involving ambassadors and cases in Now imagine a retired couple. They Constitution, have been repeatedly and which the States have legal claims have paid tax on all the money they overwhelmingly reaffirmed by the against each other. have made. They squirreled it away. House of Representatives, most re- As a leading treatise on Federal They have invested in municipal bonds. cently twice in the 107th Congress, by court jurisdiction has pointed out, ‘‘Be- This thing passes. The muni bonds drop votes of 416 to 3 and 401 to 5, and in this ginning with the first Judiciary Act in in value. They are receiving this in- Congress by a vote of 400 to 7. 1789, Congress has never vested the come, and they are paying 23 percent The first Congress not only acknowl- Federal courts with the entire ‘judicial on their food, 23 percent on their edged a proper role for religion in pub- Power’ that would be permitted under health care, 23 percent on their phar- lic life, but it did so at the very time it Article III’’ of the Constitution. maceuticals. They can no longer afford Justice William Brennan, no conserv- drafted the Establishment Clause of food, so they are buying dog food, and ative by record, writing for the Su- the first amendment. Just three days they are paying 23 percent on that. preme Court said, ‘‘virtually all mat- before Congress sent the text of the This is an outrageous bill. ters that might be heard in Article III first amendment to the States for rati- Federal courts could also be left by f fication, it authorized the appointment Congress to the State courts.’’ GENERAL LEAVE of legislative chaplains. As the Dean of Stanford Law School And on November 28, 1863, President Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speak- wrote recently, ‘‘The Constitution Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettys- leaves room for countless political re- er, I ask unanimous consent that all burg Address and declared, in words Members may have 5 legislative days sponses to an overly assertive Court: now inscribed in one of our most be- Congress can strip it of jurisdiction. within which to revise and extend their loved national monuments, ‘‘we here remarks and include extraneous mate- The means are available and they have highly resolve that these dead shall not been used to great effect when nec- rial on H.R. 2028. have died in vain, that this Nation, The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. essary, used we should note, not by dis- under God, shall have a new birth of reputable or failed leaders, but by some PENCE). Is there objection to the re- freedom.’’ of the most admired Presidents and quest of the gentleman from Wis- Although the United States Supreme consin? Congresses in American history.’’ Court recently reversed and remanded Far from violating the separation of There was no objection. the Ninth Circuit’s latest holding powers legislation that leaves State f striking down the Pledge as unconsti- courts with jurisdiction to decide cer- tutional, the Supreme Court did so on PLEDGE PROTECTION ACT OF 2004 tain classes of cases would be an exer- the questionable grounds that the cise of one of the very checks and bal- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- plaintiff lacked the legal standing to ances provided in the Constitution. In- ant to House Resolution 781 and rule bring the case. The Supreme Court’s tegral to the American constitutional XVIII, the Chair declares the House in decision not to reach the merits of the system is each branch of government’s the Committee of the Whole House on case is apparently an effort to forestall responsibility to use its powers to pre- the State of the Union for the consider- a decision adverse to the Pledge since vent overreaching by the other two ation of the bill, H.R. 2028. the dissenting Justices concluded that branches. H.R. 2028, which has 226 co- the Court in its decision, ‘‘erected a b 1133 sponsors, does just that, and I urge my novel prudential standing principle in colleagues to join me in supporting it. IN THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE order to avoid reaching the merits of Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance Accordingly, the House resolved the constitutional claim.’’ That does of my time. itself into the Committee of the Whole not bode well for the Pledge of Alle- Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield House on the State of the Union for the giance. myself such time as I may consume. consideration of the bill (H.R. 2028) to To protect the Pledge from Federal Mr. Chairman, this is not simply amend title 28, United States Code, court decisions that would have the ef- about the Pledge of Allegiance. I really VerDate jul 14 2003 01:46 Sep 24, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K23SE7.013 H23PT1 H7452 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 23, 2004 hate to be an I-told-you-so, but the last pendent judiciary cannot enforce those Nation and makes it what it is, leave it time we considered legislation to strip rights even if the majority does not alone. the Federal courts of jurisdiction, in like it. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance that case, to hear cases challenging the As to the complaints about unelected of my time. Defense of Marriage Act, I warned judges, remember your high school Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Chair- there would be no end to it. civics. We have an independent judici- man, I yield 4 minutes to the gen- Our former colleague, Bob Barr, ary precisely to rule against the wishes tleman from Indiana (Mr. PENCE), a whose legislation Congress was pur- of a trenchant majority, especially member of the Committee on the Judi- porting to protect on that occasion when it comes to the rights of unpopu- ciary. said, no thanks.