Jerry Nadler: “Mr. Speaker, what the Republicans are doing today is a ``needless, futile and utterly dangerous abandonment of…”

“Mr. Speaker, what the Republicans are doing today is a ``needless, futile and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle . . . without precedent or justification.'' These were the very words used by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1937 when they opposed President Roosevelt's court packing scheme. it was exactly 67 years ago today that the U.S. Senate voted down that dangerous plan. Mr. Speaker, the legislation that you are asking this August body to consider is no less dangerous. This legislation, the so-called Marriage Protection Act, is championed by the Republican leadership. It aims to manipulate, to indeed disrobe the Third Branch of our government, The Judiciary. Any why, Mr. Speaker? Because the Republican Party and this Republican Congress wishes to deny a particular class of people their right to come before the federal courts and defend their unalienable rights. What a horrible precedent. Mr. Speaker, Alexander Hamilton--the man on our ten dollar bill--in Federalist 78 said that the courts of justice are the bulwarks of a limited constitution against legislative encroachments, and are there to safeguard the private rights of particular classes of citizens against unjust and partial laws.”