John Conyers: “I thank the ranking chairman of the Constitutional Subcommittee, Mr. Nadler, for yielding to me. I commend him for the…”

“I thank the ranking chairman of the Constitutional Subcommittee, Mr. Nadler, for yielding to me. I commend him for the incredible work that we have done to try to bring understanding to how difficult and unworkable this so-called Pledge Protection Act is. Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hands this letter that has just come in to the Judiciary Committee from the American Bar Association, their Governmental Affairs Office. The controlling sentence is this: ``As a matter of policy, Congress should not jettison our foundational principles because of current dissatisfaction with the controversial decision of the Supreme Court or lower Federal courts by permanently stripping the jurisdiction of the Federal courts to hear certain categories of cases. Rather than strengthening its legislative role, Congress, by pressing its own checking power to the extreme, imperils the entire system of separated powers.'' Ladies and gentlemen, this unconstitutional court-stripping bill, and it would be found unconstitutional if enacted, is only the latest attempt by a Congress to force a pluralist society into a one-size- fits-all set of beliefs. This is a remarkable violation of the separation of powers and the establishment clause. If the act were to become law, it would clearly be held unconstitutional.…”