Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, the Constitution grants Congress the power over the size and composition of the judiciary. The Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent laws established this structure. Since 1869, the number of Justices has been fixed at nine. Congress has the authority to change that number. Whether Congress should exercise this authority is another question entirely, and whether Congress should exercise that authority in a 50/50 Senate and a single- digit majority in the House is another question. In Sykes v. United States, Justice Scalia wrote: ``It should be no surprise that as the volume'' of law ``increases, so do the number of imprecise laws. . . . Fuzzy, leave-the-details-to-be-sorted-out-by-the- courts legislation is attractive to the Congressman who wants credit'' without dealing with ``the nitty-gritty.'' The real problem is that Congress doesn't want to deal with the nitty-gritty. We want to fundraise off of top-line messages and vague legislative text. We write ambiguous law that leaves important details and major questions to unelected bureaucrats. The decisions of those unelected bureaucrats inevitably are left to be sorted out by the courts. The Court is merely doing its job to say what the law is. Our reaction should be to take back our Article I authority and to clearly articulate congressional intent. If we write detailed laws, judges will properly implement Congress' intent.…”