On January 6, the 112th Congress opened by reading the Constitution aloud for the very first time. A group of Democrats including Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-4) chose to stand outside the Capital with organizers from the National Organization for Women (NOW) to criticize the Constitution and recent remarks made by sitting Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.¹

 

The organizer of the rally, Terry O’Neil of NOW, after mockingly paging through the Constitution looking for protections for women, boldly declared that “as long as there are men in power in this country that keep women down, we have to have an explicit guarantee of equality in the Constitution.”²

 

Moore’s press stunt didn’t garner much attention, but her blatant disrespect for the Constitution is deeply troubling. Her hypocrisy is evident as she cries foul over something that isn’t in the Constitution when her voting record reflects a blatant disregard for Constitutional authority. Congresswoman Moore has recently voted in favor of:

• The Stimulus Bill
• Health Care Reform Act
• TARP
• Cap and Trade Legislation

 

None of these acts have constitutional authority under Article I of the Constitution. So why should people listen to Moore when she demands that rights be added to the Constitution when she votes as if the Constitution as written is irrelevant? Perhaps Congresswomen Moore would better serve her constituents by listening to Article I before deriding the document for what isn’t explicitly written.

 Photo Credit www.gwenmoore.house.gov

 1 http://www.cnsnews.com/print/79808