Some Republicans Need a Refresher Course in Government

Posted on | December 15, 2005

Chris Buttars, a moron state Senator in Utah, is beating that long-dead horse trying to ban clubs in public schools that are even remotely connected to homosexuality. He gets all blustery in his quotes about how the only reason these clubs exist is because of fear of lawsuits and so forth. No my dear Sen. Buttars it is not fear of lawsuits, but rather the knowledge that they will get sued and will lose because this issue has been dealt with already. I wonder if PETA also protests the beatings of dead horses.I sometimes have to wonder if a lot of these homophobic Republican lawmakers really have even any knowledge of even some of the most rudimentary aspects of how government works. You would think that running and getting into office would be some sort of sign but apparently not. I would like to take this moment to give Senator Buttars, and those who are dumb enough to follow courses like his, one of the first things I learned in my high school government class which was this little thing called the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution. Located in Article IV, Paragraph 2, the Supremacy Clause is as follows:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be Supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

This states the federal laws, treaties, and the US Constitution will always trump state and municipal laws. The law that Buttars is running contrary to is the federal Equal Access Act (1984) which, ironically, was co-sponsored by Senator Orin Hatch from Utah and was designed to protect religious groups meeting at schools. The law even has a Supreme Court ruling to back it up in Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990). The only way around it is to cease all groups so that nukes the French Club, the Drama Club, the Math Club and the Science Club. Oh and athletic teams would need to go too.

I seriously hope the old-school Republicans are taking note of individuals like Chris Buttars. While attempting to pass laws like these is in-line with the morality kick that the party is going through right now, it is completely antithetical to one of the defining characteristics of Republicans which is fiscal conservatism. Buttars is wasting Utah state money and time by even thinking about this bill. The Utah legislature has to waste time considering the bill and, should it pass and the governor signs it into law, the state will have to pay to defend the law which will probably be challenged in court before the inkâ€™s dry on the signature. Democrats need to capitalize on this wave fiscal irresponsibility too.