Political Quotes

“Ladies and gentlemen of the House, my amendment would exclude actions to combat discrimination and protect civil rights enforcement from the scope of this bill before us. The last thing we should want to do as a Congress is to pass legislation that makes it more difficult to protect our citizens' civil rights, by executive action or otherwise; yet if H.R. 4138 had been law, several of the most critical civil rights milestones of our Nation would have been subject to unnecessary congressional challenge in the courts. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued perhaps the most important executive order in our Nation's history, the Emancipation Proclamation; and by this order, Lincoln freed the slaves in those southern States that were engaged in military conflict with the Union. By doing so, Lincoln not only encouraged slaves to take up arms in fighting the Civil War for the Union, he also struck a blow for freedom that resonated around the world. By issuing the order, however, President Lincoln made a decision to not enforce then-existing laws, protecting the institution of slavery, including the Federal Fugitive Slave Act. Clearly, history has shown Lincoln's decision to be not only a legal and a military turning point, but morally correct; and clearly, had the so-called ENFORCE Act been law, the Emancipation Proclamation could have been subject to an unnecessary and unhelpful legal challenge in the courts from the Congress.…”