Reply #26: Oh yes they can and have. The House did so on Sept. 23, 2004 [View All]

[sinkingfeeling]

http://hnn.us/articles/7715.html

<snip> Then, on Sept. 23, the House did something extraordinary. Rather than take a chance that the Supreme Court would get the case again and ban "under God" from the Pledge, it voted 247-173 to use the authority given to it under Article III of the Constitution to eliminate the case from the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts.

The great irony is that the use of this power potentially undermines the viability of the Constitution. Once Congress goes down that road, it doesn't have to stop with the Pledge. It can remove cases dealing with abortion, affirmative action, the rights of criminal defendants or other areas of the law.

The House's action isn't unprecedented. It has deep roots. The founders knew they were creating a potentially powerful federal judiciary, with judges appointed for life and with the capacity to declare invalid the acts of state legislatures and state courts, as well as federal laws. <snip>