Bill Text: GA HR1770 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice; Georgia is republic, not democracy; inform
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-26 - House Second Readers [HR1770 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2009-HR1770-Introduced.html
10 LC
94 2822
House
Resolution 1770
By:
Representatives Franklin of the
43rd,
Jerguson of the
22nd,
Byrd of the
20th,
Holt of the
112th,
Reese of the
98th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Informing
Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein that Georgia is a
republic, not a democracy; recognizing the great differences between these two
forms of government; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
on March 16, 2010, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein
appeared before the Georgia General Assembly for the State of the Judiciary
address, and in her speech Chief Justice Hunstein mistakenly called the State of
Georgia a democracy; and
WHEREAS,
the State of Georgia is, in fact, a republic and it is important that all
Georgians know the difference between a republic and a democracy –
especially the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS,
the word "republic" comes from the Latin
res
publica, which means "the public thing"
or "the law," while the word "democracy" comes from the Greek words
demos
and
kratein,
which translates to "the people to rule"; and
WHEREAS,
most synonymous with majority rule, democracy was condemned by the Founding
Fathers of the United States, who closely studied the history of both
democracies and republics before drafting the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution; and
WHEREAS,
the Founding Fathers recognized that the rights given to man by God should not
be violated by an unrestrained majority any more than they should be restrained
by a king or monarch; and
WHEREAS,
it is common knowledge that the Pledge of Allegiance contains the phrase "and to
the Republic"; and
WHEREAS,
as he exited the deliberations of the so-called Constitutional Convention of
1787, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin told the awaiting crowd they have "A
republic, if you can keep it"; and
WHEREAS,
a republic is a government of law, not of man, which is why the United States
Constitution does not contain the word democracy and mandates that "the United
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
Government"; and
WHEREAS,
in 1928, the War Department of the United States defined democracy in Training
Manual No. 2000-25 as a "government of the masses" which "[r]esults in
mobocracy," communistic attitudes to property rights, "demagogism,...agitation,
discontent, [and] anarchy"; and
WHEREAS,
during the State of the Judiciary, Chief Justice Hunstein stated that the
judicial branch is the branch of government charged with interpreting the
Constitution; however, the judicial branch of government is not the sole
interpreter of the Constitution, instead all three branches of Georgia's
government are responsible for interpreting the Constitution as it applies to
their jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS,
the Georgia General Assembly serves as the legislative branch of Georgia's
government, and each legislator must apply and interpret the Constitution to
each piece of legislation that is considered; and
WHEREAS,
the judiciary applies the Constitution and the laws enacted pursuant to it to
the facts of the cases before the court.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of
this body recognize the difference between a democracy and a republic and inform
Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein that the State of Georgia
is a republic and not a democracy.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit appropriate copies of this resolution to Georgia
Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein, all Justices of the Georgia
Supreme Court, and all Judges of the Georgia Court of Appeals.
