During a debate on the House floor on the Enforce the Law Act bill (H.R.4138), Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18th) offered angry oratory on clearly defining what was Constitutional. The problem is that her preamble implies that American has been operating under our Constitution for 400 years.
Unfortunately for the "gentle-lady" from Houston, the Constitution has only been ratified since 1789, which is 234 years ago.
To be charitable, perhaps Ms. Jackson Lee intended to refer to English settlements in the New World, from which the American Republic has a nexus. Using Representative Jackson Lee's chronology, maybe she meant the Jamestown Colony, which was established in 1607 and briefly abandoned in 1610. Popular culture considers the Pilgrims settlement in the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Yet the rules used in both charters did not embody the constitutional protections which Jackson Lee extolled. But at least Ms. Jackson Lee was more on base with her Constitutional claim than in 1997 when Jackson Lee asked a NASA scientist in a Congressional hearing if the Mars Pathfinder had photographed the flag that Neil Armstrong had planted on the moon.
Maybe Congresswoman Jackson Lee ought to crack open her pocket Constitution instead of just brandishing it as a prop. But such a modest proposal coming from the wrong source might be considered too bossy .
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