Jim Sensenbrenner: “on September 17, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a Constitution day address, and in that speech President…”

“on September 17, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a Constitution day address, and in that speech President Roosevelt said in part, ``Lay rank and file can take cheer from the historic fact that every effort to construe the Constitution as a lawyer's contract rather than a layman's charter has ultimately failed. Whenever legalistic interpretation has clashed with contemporary sense on great questions of broad national policy, ultimately the people and the Congress have had their way.'' This was a statement that was made by what is conceded on both sides of the aisle as the greatest Democratic President in the history of this country. In the last Congress, both the House and the Senate passed and the President signed public law 107-206. Section 706(j) of that law says, ``Any action authorized by this section shall not be subject to judicial review by any court of the United States.'' Now, where were all of the Members who are complaining about this bill when that legislation came up, because it took away the right of the Federal courts to review legal issues relating to trees in South Dakota. If Congress can deny all the Federal courts the authority to hear a class of cases to protect trees, it certainly can do so to protect the States' policy regarding the Pledge of Allegiance. That is why this bill ought to be passed.”