Gingrich's opinion about the Supreme Court on Face the Nation

Click here for the full episode of Sunday's (12/18/11) Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer
Source: CBS

In the first half of this episode, Newt Gingrich explains to Face the Nation's host Bob Schieffer why the judiciary branch isn't as important as the others and he responds to some comments from his rival Mitt Romney. First, Romney has gotten the support of The Des Moines Register, and Schieffer asked Gingrich how he feels about this. Gingrich responded with something along the lines of him not being worried about it because that is a liberal newspaper, and he is happy with being supported by a conservative newspaper because that clearly shows he is conservative. The next issue that was discussed was the importance of the Supreme Court. Gingrich is the only recent candidate that doesn't think the judiciary branch should have an equal say. He thinks that it's more of a 2 out of 3 system. If the President and Congress agree on something then the Supreme Court doesn't really have a say, and vice versa. Gingrich believes that the Supreme Court shouldn't really set the law of the land, especially in cases like Dred Scott. Lincoln clearly opposed the court's decision and didn't want slavery for the whole country. Another example Gingrich gave was when the 9th Circuit Court didn't want "one nation under God" to be in the Pledge of Allegiance, Gingrich thought it was way too extreme. Gingrich doesn't want to secular-ize the U.S. completely.

I think that Gingrich has a point, but at the same time I don't think a person trying to get nominated should say something so outrageous. The voters might dislike his views because all Americans have been raised knowing that the Supreme Court is very important. It is admirable though that Gingrich has a strong opinion and sticks to it. That is a positive trait, but I don't think he should be the president...