Circumventing Legal Authority

By Alan Nathan
Washington Times | April 23, 2007

Whether it's about illegal aliens, property rights, or reconciling our jurisprudence with international law, inferior vestiges of government power have circumvented an authority not vested in them by our Constitution, and the proof is disturbingly self-evident.

For the last two years, a slight majority of poll respondents have said that they are open to guest-worker programs and pathways to citizenship for non-documented residents. However, 70 percent correctly insist that we should first seal up the borders against the hundreds of thousands of people entering our home illegally every year.

America's governing bodies deny our pleas by cowering behind lofty claims of needed comprehensive immigration reform. It's a maneuver to supplant their responsibility with an excuse to prolong noncompliance with our Constitution.

The nation's illegal-immigration debate resembles a dysfunctional family, who, when confronted by a leaky roof, would rather fight about where to place limited buckets instead of simply repairing the holes. Just as sealing the ceiling shouldn't be hostage to buying more pails, so implementing constitutional law shouldn't be contingent upon legislative law not yet written.