Steny Hoyer: “Mr. Chairman, let me start by saying that we all respect the gentleman from Illinois. Those who read this amendment will…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me start by saying that we all respect the gentleman from Illinois. Those who read this amendment will nod their heads in agreement on much of this amendment. But I am reminded of the words of the great President from the State of Illinois, the State of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln once observed during the course of the Civil War that if in the end things turned out all right, nothing that was said would matter; but however, if in the end things turned out wrong, that all the angels in Heaven speaking on its behalf would not matter. In the last page of this amendment, section 602, the language says: 'Notwithstanding any provision of this Act and in recognition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, nothing in this Act or in any amendment made by this Act may be construed to abridge those freedoms found in that amendment.' With all due respect, that is not within the power of this Congress. It is not within the power of this Congress to say that this is constitutional or it is not constitutional. And why is that? It is because the Founding Fathers' genius was to separate the powers and to give to an independent judiciary the right to say whether an act of Congress is constitutional or whether it was not.”