(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Dobbs is a fraud on the Constitution [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-23 It really isn’t his fault. In the Senate, he can’t even bring a federal codification of Roe to the floor. In the House his minority can’t get it on the floor either. But it is a good sucker bet to try to get women to vote. Instead of using the 14th Amendment Section three to get all the insurrectionists banned from the House and Senate (those who voted for the illegitimate Trump electors), with the margins he would need to do that thrown away. Worse, the Dobbs decision is a fraud on the constitutition, the Supreme Court itself, and no one does anything about it, not VP Harris, or even Planned Parenthood. First there are some legal fundamentals to get out of the way. Even Republican Supreme Court Justices agree that the Canons (Principles) of Statutory Construction apply to the Constitution. Canons of Statutory Construction Supremacy-of-Text Principle. The words of a governing text are of paramount concern, and what they convey, in their context, is what the text means. Principle of Interrelating Canons. No canon of interpretation is absolute. Each may be overcome by the strength of differing principles that point in other directions. Presumption of Validity. An interpretation that validates outweighs one that invalidates (ut res magis valeat quam pereat). Ordinary-Meaning Canon. Words are to be understood in their ordinary, everyday meanings — unless the context indicates that they bear a technical sense. Fixed-Meaning Canon. Words must be given the meaning they had when the text was adopted. Omitted-Case Canon. Nothing is to be added to what the text states or reasonably implies (casus omissus pro omisso habendus est). That is, a matter not covered is to be treated as not covered. General-Terms Canon. General terms are to be given their general meaning (generalia verba sunt generaliter intelligenda). Negative-Implication Canon. The expression of one thing implies the exclusion of others (expressio unius est exclusio alterius). Whole-Text Canon. The text must be construed as a whole. Presumption of Consistent Usage. A word or phrase is presumed to bear the same meaning throughout a text; a material variation in terms suggests a variation in meaning. Surplusage Canon. If possible, every word and every provision is to be given effect (verba cum effectu sunt accipienda). None should be ignored. None should needlessly be given an interpretation that causes it to duplicate another provision or to have no consequence. Absurdity Doctrine. A provision may be either disregarded or judicially corrected as an error (when the correction is textually simple) if failing to do so would result in a disposition that no reasonable person could approve. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner are co-authors of Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (West, 2012). Which makes the deception in Heller galling Second, the Supreme Court has some powers, and does not have some other powers. The Constitution says: 1. The supreme court may not modify the constitution ArticleFive of the United States Constitution says [The Congress,whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state,without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.] The supreme court hasno part whatsoever in this process. In short, the Supreme court doesn’t get to rewrite the constitution. 2. The supreme court may not ignore the constitution The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States (ArticleVI, Clause 2) says [This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary not withstanding.] The SupremeCourt is bound by the Supreme Law of the Land. 3. The supreme court may not remove rights from theconstitution The supreme court removed the communal right of a “well regulated militia” in Heller from the text of the second amendment to find the preferred “individual right” of the modern republican supreme court justices. The crime of brandishing, well known to the founders, is now protected in many states thanks to these justices violating the Constitution (and their own “originalism doctrine”). In a dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens stated that the court's judgment was "a strained and unpersuasive reading" which overturned longstanding precedent,and that the court had "bestowed a dramatic upheaval in the law". Stevens also stated that the amendment was notable for the "omission of any statement of purpose related to the right to use firearms for hunting or personal self-defense" which is missing in the text of the U.S. Constitution yet present in the Declarations of Rights of Pennsylvania and Vermont, which they use to supercede it. 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