Since when does the Constitution authorize Judges to design money?
Published Wed, Dec 13 2006 2:18 AM
Technorati Tags: Courts, Political Correctness
The Justice Department has appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson. That ruling ordered the Treasury to make it easier for the blind to recognize different denominations of currency. From CBS News:
In his ruling, Robertson said that of 180 countries issuing paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations.
He said the current practice violates the Rehabilitation Act, a law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs.
In the government's appeal, Justice Department lawyers argued that visually impaired people are not denied "meaningful access" to money by the way the nation's currency is designed.
...
Tara Cortes, president of Lighthouse International, an advocacy group for the blind, said the government's decision to fight making changes in the currency was "misguided and harmful to millions."
She said there are 1.3 million people in the United States who are legally blind and there will be millions more in coming years as the baby boom generation ages and more people fall victim to macular degeneration and other diseases that can affect vision such as diabetes.
"While the government may argue that changing the dollar bill will cost billions, it will pale in comparison to the costs of the vision loss epidemic," Cortes said.
The costs of the "vision loss epidemic"? Give me a politically correct break. Changing the currency won't defray any costs associated with a "vision loss epidemic". It'll just be another cost to add to any such epidemic.
Even the term "vision loss epidemic" is ludicrous. Sure there will be people who lose their sight as they age. I myself am at risk because I'm diabetic. But calling it an epidemic is over the top.
As for the Judge, I don't seem to be able to recall anything in the Constitution that authorized him to determine how U.S. currency is to be designed. The only place I can find that discusses it is in Article 1, section 8:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
...
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Nope, nothing in there that says that some Judge has that authority.
Sure, the Constitution does grant the courts the jurisdiction in cases that come under the laws of the United States, but it doesn't let them design our money.
In the government's appeal, Justice Department lawyers argued that visually impaired people are not denied "meaningful access" to money by the way the nation's currency is designed.
They noted the existence of portable reading devices that the blind can use to determine the denomination of paper money. The government said the blind can also use credit cards instead of currency.
Can you say "judicial overreaching?"
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