By Carolyn Crandall
Senate Republicans changed the name of the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, the Huffington Post reported on Friday.
When Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced the new chairs for the six Judiciary subcommittees, he referred to the subcommittee as the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) office confirmed to the Huffington Post that Republicans removed "Civil Rights and Human Rights" from the subcommittee name.
"We changed the name because the Constitution covers our most basic rights, including civil and human rights," Cornyn spokeswoman Megan Mitchell told the Huffington Post. "We will focus on these rights, along with other issues that fall under the broader umbrella of the Constitution."
Cornyn, the Senate Majority Whip, will chair the subcommittee.
"Senators swear an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, and I take that sacred responsibility seriously," Cornyn said in a statement. "The Constitution is the foundation of the freedoms and values we hold dear, yet for six years President Obama has treated it as an afterthought. It is the highest of laws and must be defended as such."
My question is, if the Constitution already covers civil and human rights, then why have a subcommittee at all?
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