A hero in the House

I don't get excited about politicians very often.

To do so usually leads to disappointment.

TRENDING: Capitol authorities on high alert Thursday over 'real inauguration' threat

But I'm excited about Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., and the work he is doing to hold our federal courts accountable and restore some semblance of constitutional government to our system.

He is responsible recently for introducing amendments to a House appropriations bill that would withhold funding for the enforcement of the federal court decision to remove the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building and for the removal of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance case.

What's amazing about Hostettler's accomplishments is that both amendments were passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives, with the support of many Democrats.

By a vote of 260-161, lawmakers last month approved the amendment to block enforcement of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the Ten Commandments cannot be posted in the Alabama Supreme Court building. Another amendment prohibiting funds for the enforcement of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance case passed 307-119.

Hostettler recognized that the U.S. Marshals Service executes and enforces all "lawful" orders of the U.S. District Courts. The U.S. Marshals Service, an agency of the U.S. Justice Department, is funded by the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary appropriations bill that was amended by those votes.

"The founders of the United States set up a brilliant system of government consisting of three separate branches with unambiguous roles," explained Hostettler. "The Congress legislates, the president executes and the courts judge. However, as in any organization with potentially competing interests, one institution would be constructed to be the weakest. Alexander Hamilton made it very clear that the framers had relegated the judiciary to that distinction ..."

Hostettler cited Federalist No. 78 on the House floor in making his case.

"As Hamilton pointed out, the legislative branch controls the purse strings of this government," he said. "When the legislative branch believes the judicial branch to be in error, the Congress may refuse to fund actions to enforce the court's judgment by the executive branch agency that would execute those judgments."

The appropriations bill now is pending in the U.S. Senate.

The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, lost an appeal July 1 at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a lower court's decision that a washing machine-sized granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the public building must be removed because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The original suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"If we adopted his position, the chief justice would be free to adorn the walls of the Alabama Supreme Court's courtroom with sectarian religious murals and have decidedly religious quotations painted above the bench," the three-judge panel said in its ruling.

On July 22, Moore announced he would appeal the case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I will personally petition the United States Supreme Court as chief justice of this state to hear me on this matter," Moore said in a statement.

Perhaps the most delicious aspect of the Hostettler amendments and this new congressional strategy is that the fifth-term House member is a non-lawyer. Not surprisingly, he seems to have a better grasp of the principle of the rule of law than most of his attorney colleagues. Hostettler is an engineer. He is an example of the kind of citizen-legislator the founders envisioned for this country.

He only became seriously interested in politics in 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton as president. In 1994, he announced he would seek the seat held by Frank McCloskey, a six-term incumbent. He went on to surprise many by winning on a platform of returning to constitutional government.

Few Americans even realize what Hostettler has done. It's time to spread the word and support this hero in the House.

Be sure to sign up for Joseph Farah's free e-mail list solely designed as an organizing tool of his bid to impeach the Supreme Court majority.