Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Friday, February 16, 2007 10:53:41 AM
I had been giving a lot of thought as to how I would treat the Jarad Polis Amendment (aka 41). He so wants to be the nominee in CO CD2. I think he would be easily beatable if the Republicans put up a decent candidate matched to that district, so I have been giving him a bye until that great day happened. I haven't even suggested that the story of the Colorado Common Cause Polis Amendment be told on Wikipedia.
This blog is as much about judicial misconduct as it is about politics, although politics is a lot more fun. Today Jarad's Joke is in the news again as Denver District Judge Robert McGahey took all of five minutes to rule that it didn't apply to scholarships awarded by the Daniels Fund to students whose parents are government employees.
It is hard to see how Polis's Pholly doesn't apply to these scholarships. It requires that something of value be exchanged for anything over $50. Successful scholarship applicants are already high achievers, both socially and academically, so what new thing do they bring to the table that is of value? The answer is that they will be doing nothing new, nothing that they wouldn't already have done.
Yes, the ruling that these kids are getting their scholarships is convenient for all concerned, especially Jarad Polis, but at what cost? Judges who conduct five minute hearings on Constitutional matters and issue immediate judgments make the Constitution into nothing but mush.
I want to give David Kopel the credit he is due for his Colorado Inside Out prediction just after the election that attempts to fix the Polis Amendment would devalue the State Constitution. The process is well under way.
Conservatives should be bothered by what is happening. How can someone like Attorney General John Suthers claim in the future that he is a strict constructionist if he allows his subordinates to go into court and treat the state Constitution as just so much inconvenient paper.
Quoting from the
Rocky Mountain News:
Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn welcomed the decision.
Don't blame me. I voted against Jarad's Joke along with one-third of Coloradoans. The folks who are in court trying to fix it are the ones who voted for it.