Last night, during Mike Huckabee's presidential candidates' forum on FOX, Rick Perry repeatedly deployed his favorite catchy epithet for those Supreme Court justices with whom he happens to disagree. "Legislators in robes," he called them, as opposed to "strict constructionists." "We've got about four of each" on the Supreme Court, he said. And because there are so many "legislators in robes" on the Supreme Court, Gov. Perry said his White House would push for Supreme Court term limits. "Now, obviously, that would take a Constitutional amendment," he explained.
Moments later, when Gov. Huckabee asked Gov. Perry to explain, for the benefit of the laymen watching, what he meant by "strict constructionist," Gov. Perry reached into his pocket and whipped out a copy of the Constitution. "Read it. Exactly what it says. That's what we're talking about. Don't read anything into it. Don't add to it."
But "adding" to the Constitution is exactly what an amendment does. For the record, the Constitution says only that Supreme Court justices shall serve so long as they exhibit "good behavior." Perry, in asserting that this formulation is inadequate, gives up the whole game: "The Constitution is sacrosanct, except for the bits I don't like."
Watch Rick Perry explain this with a straight face, AFTER THE JUMP …
