Is Social Security Illegal?

September 29th, 2011
05:00 PM ET
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CNN Poll: One in five say Social Security is unconstitutional
By: CNN Political Unit


(CNN) - Social Security reform has taken center stage in the 2012 presidential debate and one in five say the system is unconstitutional, but a new CNN/ORC International poll shows a majority of Americans have good feelings about the program.

Eight in 10 Americans think Social Security has been good for the country, with 70 percent of young adults agreeing and almost nine in 10 senior citizens saying the same.

Though large majorities of both parties believe the 75-year-old program instituted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been good, about one-third of all Republicans think it is unconstitutional

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I'm amazed that we have that many Constitutional scholars in the entire US.

It appears that the REPUBS have more support on cutting entitlements than I was aware of.

It's a good thing, then, that constitutional questions get decided by the judicial process, not by votes. The Supreme Court has decided in 1937 that Social Security is constitutional, and hasn't since overruled its decision. The Social Security administration, whose website has a few pages on its history, collects those decisions in one place. You are encouraged to look them up there

We are well passed the point of letting the elites decide such important questions,

given the hash that they have made out of this once great nation.

The supreme court commands no military force so it can not impose is decisions, all it has is it power of persuasion and the deference that the American people allow it. In case you had not noticed the Supremes are not held in particularly high regard at the moment, they would do well to stop pandering to minorities opinions and the corporate class, before we all decide that we dont give a **** what the Supreme Court thinks.

Why do you hate America?

In case you hadn't noticed, all that's holding those soldiers to their duty is an oath to the Constitution

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)

Aside from making judicial appointments, the president's only other influence over the Supreme Court resides in his power to enforce — or choose not to enforce — judicial decisions. This power is known as judicial implementation. As President Andrew Jackson once remarked about a ruling he disagreed with, “[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”

What Jackson was referring to is the Supreme Court's inability to carry out its rulings. The Supreme Court can only interpret the law — it must rely upon the president and Congress to enforce its judgments and decrees. Most of the time this is not a point of contention, but if the president vehemently disagrees with a court ruling, it's within his discretion to refuse or delay enforcing it.

Following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which resulted in the order to desegregate public schools, a reluctant President Eisenhower was forced to send federal troops to Arkansas after the governor used the state's National Guard to block African-Americans from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Eisenhower only ordered the troops in after Governor Orville Faubus created a riot at Central High.


Disobeying a Supreme Court decision is a drastic political move fraught with danger for the president. Even Richard Nixon complied with the Court's ruling that he turn over his secret White House tapes to the special prosecutor. He knew that noncompliance would further erode his legitimacy and probably result in immediate impeachment. Only in the rarest circumstances will a president ignore or act contrary to a Supreme Court decision.

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In case you hadn't noticed, all that's holding those soldiers to their duty is an oath to the Constitution

Wrong, they also swear an oath to the President.

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Why do you hate America?

I dont, I hate elites, because they are bossy incompetents who like to invade my sovereignty. I have had enough. We Americans are all equal, and it is time to reteach the elites what America is all about, as they have obviously forgotten. .

Mmmm.... Might be a quibble, but they do not swear directly to the President

As for us all being equal... are you becoming a Communist, now?

You apparently don't think America is great, anymore.