Last month, the House of Representatives passed in a close party-line vote

the Marriage Protection Act (H.R. 3313), introduced by Indiana Republican

John Hostettler.

This legislation is long overdue and is absolutely necessary if the American

people are to take back control of their government from the hands of un-elected,

life-time appointed federal judges.

H.R. 3313 is designed to implement an unused portion of the U.S. Constitution

that gives Congress explicit and exclusive control over what kinds of cases

federal courts can hear.

Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution says that Congress can regulate

the appellate jurisdiction of federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.

H.R. 3313 will protect the right of the states to define marriage without

interference from the federal judiciary.

Rep. Hostettler stated, "Judges can't force their will upon the

people because the Constitution doesn't provide them with a single tool

to make their rulings become reality. Unconstitutional decisions only have

effect if Congress and the president allow them to."

Hostettler's legislation would forbid the U.S. Supreme Court and inferior

federal courts from ruling on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage

Act (DOMA) signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton. DOMA states that

no state must recognize same-sex marriages from another state.

The Founding Fathers never meant for federal courts to turn into judicial

tyrannies. In fact, in 1788, Alexander Hamilton wrote, "The judiciary

is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power." Liberals,

of course, claim that the courts have judicial supremacy and can overturn

laws as well as impose their social agendas at will. This is a myth.

In 1819, Thomas Jefferson, who probably had a fairly good grasp of how our

government was to function, said: "If this opinion [of judicial supremacy]

be sound, then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo de se [act of suicide]."

Yet, today, the federal courts have basically become judicial tyrants, overturning

laws passed by state legislatures and Congress and legislating a radical

liberal agenda. This is not the proper role of judges. Their role is to interpret

laws, not create them. Congress must put an end to this usurpation of power

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is a prime example of

judicial tyranny in action. The justices on that court have aggressively

pursued a radical agenda without regard for the Constitution or the clear

reading of the law.

The latest outrage, of course, was ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance

was unconstitutional because it contained the words "under God" in

it. The case was overturned this year on a technicality by the U.S. Supreme

Court, but the 9th Circuit and others are poised to rule that homosexual

marriage is a constitutional "right" guaranteed in the Constitution.

Lawyer Phyllis Schlafly, writing in her new book, "The Supremacists:

The Tyranny Of Judges And How To Stop It," notes: "It is completely

constitutional for Congress to take away from all federal courts the power

to declare federal and state DOMAs unconstitutional and it's Congress's

constitutional duty to protect the American people from judicial supremacists

who might commit such an outrage. Don't let anyone tell you that Congress

can't tell the federal courts what cases they can and cannot hear. Just

read the Constitution."

Congress should act quickly on passage of H.R. 3313. Our nation is a republic,

not a judicial oligarchy. It's time to send a clear message to liberal

judges that their tyrannical rulings are coming to an end.