Over the course of the last year I have once again been reminded just how important is our Bill of Rights. In some very significant ways, it is even more important than the Constitution it amends. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights share one critical component, however - both required the ratification of the States, an explicit recognition of the supreme place occupied by the States in our republican form of government.
It is that component that elevates the Bill of Rights to a position of supremacy over the Constitution.
According to the Preamble, the Bill of Rights was demanded by the States in order to restrict Congress from over-regulating our lives, to insure that basic rights were safeguarded from a potentially power-hungry centralized government.
The States first created the federal government by ratifying the Constitution.
The States then formulated measures intended to restrict and regulate the federal government.
It is time once again for the States to exercise their rightful role to bring Congress back into compliance with the Bill of Rights, to insure that Congress exercises its Constitutionally-enumerated powers in a manner consistent with the preservation of the rights enshrined in that first set of amendments to the Constitution.
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