Personhood Oklahoma v. Brittany Mays Barber, et al. Amicus Brief for Joyce Meyer Ministries, et al. in the United States Supreme Court

admin Constitutional Law, U. S. Supreme Court

Today our firm filed an amicus brief in the case of Personhood Oklahoma v. Brittany Mays Barber, et al. in the United States Supreme Court in support of petitioner’s petition for writ of certiorari.

By striking the proposed initiative amending the Oklahoma constitution by defining “person” as it appears in the state constitution, the court below misused Planned Parenthood v. Casey to deprive the people of Oklahoma of a power reserved them by the Tenth Amendment. Our amicus brief argues that the petition for a writ of certiorari should be granted because the petition presents a question of momentous significance to the powers reserved by the Tenth Amendment to the people. The definition of “person” in the proposed amendment is not repugnant to any provision in the U.S. Constitution, and therefore, the initiative is not outside the powers of the people reserved to them by the Tenth Amendment.

Our amicus brief also argues that the petition for a writ of certiorari should be granted because it presents an important question concerning the exercise of judicial review that cannot be settled except by the Supreme Court. The decision of the court below is based squarely upon the mistaken doctrine of judicial supremacy — that the Supreme Court’sCasey decision is the supreme law of the land, and thus, legally binding upon the people of Oklahoma in the exercise of their inherent power to amend the State constitution. The Supreme Court, however, is not the final arbiter of the U.S. Constitution, in the way that the court below ruled. Rather, its decisions bind only the parties to a case. The people who constitute the government of Oklahoma remain supreme, possessing the inalienable right to propose, ratify, and amend the State constitution as they see fit, so long as the changes are not repugnant to the U.S. Constitution, as it is written, not as it is interpreted and applied in specific cases by the Supreme Court.

Our amicus brief was filed on behalf of:
Joyce Meyer Ministries (http://www.joycemeyer.org/)
Personhood Education (http://personhoodeducation.org/)
U.S. Justice Foundation (https://usjf.net/)
Institute on the Constitution (http://www.theamericanview.com/)
The Lincoln Institute for Research and Education (http://www.lincolnreview.com/)
Abraham Lincoln Foundation for Public Policy Research, Inc.
Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund (http://www.cldef.org/)
Congressman Steve Stockman
Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall
Oklahoma Representatives Charles Key and Mike Reynolds

Link to brief