Dumbest lawyer in Congress?

Here's my nomination of the month for the dumbest lawyer in Congress – a dis-honorific I could easily confer on a weekly or even daily basis.

A North Carolinian resident wrote a letter to his congressman over the summer. Here's the text of that missive:

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"To the Honorable Representative of the State of North Carolina:

"In order to assure the protection of the American People and the preservation of our Constitution, I think at this point in American history, it would be a good idea to introduce legislation like the following:

"In no instance shall the practice of Islamic Shariah law be established or permitted within any state or territory under the jurisdiction of the United States of America.

"Thank you."

After giving the matter careful consideration, this constituent's congressman wrote back almost two months later. Here's what he said:

"Thank you for your e-mail about the establishment and practice of Islamic Shariah law in the United States.

"The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees free exercise of religious principles. Therefore, I believe that the language proposed in your e-mail would be unconstitutional and I would not support it.

"I appreciate your input on this issue. If I or my staff can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me."

It was signed by Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C. It may as well have been signed "Clueless in Carolina."

Now I don't know about you, but I always thought the First Amendment offered two limits on the power of Congress over religion:

1. It prohibits Congress from making any law abridging freedom of religion. (Note: That's religion, not "religious principles.")

2. It prohibits Congress from establishing a state religion.

Personally, I believe individual states retain the power to establish state religions under the First Amendment. In fact, that was exactly what many of them did immediately after the ratification of the Constitution and the First Amendment, so, evidently, that's what our founders believed, too.

But, I digress. I'm not here to discuss the relative merits of the proposal by Melvin Watt's constituent. I'm here to discuss the relative demerits of the congressman's brain.

Here we've got a constituent trying to devise a way to assure that a religion currently imposing its own law on people throughout the world not get a chance to do so in the U.S. That would hardly be a violation of the free exercise of religion (or religious principles). Free exercise of religion does not mean someone can impose their religious law on you. However, it has everything to do with ensuring the Constitution's prohibition against a state religion be upheld.

On top of that, any interpretation of Shariah law would clearly show it is in absolute diametric opposition to the U.S. Constitution.

But that's not the way Rep. Melvin Watt sees it. That's not the way he explains it to his constituents. In fact, he thinks it would be a violation of the free exercise clause to ban Shariah law from being imposed on people in the U.S.

Bizarre. And that's why I nominate him as dumbest lawyer in Congress this month. By the way, not only is he a lawyer, he's a graduate of the prestigious Yale Law School – the same university from which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas graduated.

How does a guy like this remain in Congress for 14 years?

Easy. He is re-elected every two years in the infamous 12th district, one of the worst cases of gerrymandering in the nation. The Wall Street Journal took a look at the odd shape, in some places no wider than a freeway lane, and called it "political pornography." The district was created for him in 1992 by his Democratic friends in the North Carolina General Assembly.

I guess you could say that makes them "political pornographers."

It also makes them complicit in imposing Mel 60-Watt-Bulb as congressman-for-life on the victims of his misbegotten district.

Related special offer:

Sen. Tom Coburn's "Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders"