Since When?
Over the past two weeks, we have heard descriptions of the Constitution that bear no resemblance to the actual document or any of its relevant interpretations over the past 200 years. Since when does Congress tell the courts how to resolve a particular case? Since when do our national legislators single out one family to give special rights to? Since when does the governor of a state try to countermand a series of final court orders by pushing to take custody of a woman whose legal status already had been determined? Since when are judges accused of making "public policy" as "activists" when all they've done is interpret existing law? Since when do the sloths in Congress move like vipers to enact legislation in a day?
The legal and political dynamic we have just endured is an order of magnitude more ominous than the crisis we narrowly avoided immediately following the 2000 election. It is worse by far than the impeachment of President Clinton. It almost rises (or sinks) to the level of constitutional gravity we experienced a generation ago, during the depths of the crisis involving President Nixon and Watergate.
[Excerpt from "Schiavo was calm eye of the perfect storm" by Andrew Cohen in the Denver Post, 3 April 2005.]