Showdown

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a law preventing federal courts from striking "under G-d" from the Pledge Of Allegiance.

The vote was generally along party lines. In fact, for quite a while, conservatives have been telling Republicans to pull this trick. You see, according to the Constitution, Article III, Section 2, there can be "exceptions" to Supreme Court jurisdiction, "under such regulations as the Congress shall make."

Most scholars feel that the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of constitutionality--a power the court claimed for itself in the groundbreaking Marbury V. Madison (1803).

I don't know what the Founding Fathers would have thought. Perhaps they believed Congress was just as competent at determining constitutionality as the Supreme Court. But I strongly doubt the Court, if this law gets there, will allow this limiting of their jurisdiction. I speak not as a legal scholar, but as an amateur psychologist. Let's face it, they're not gonna put up with Congress poaching on their biggest power.