<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by whirledtraveler:
True enough. The key thing is this, whether you like it or not the basis of jurisprudence in this country is that liberty precedes government. You may not agree with Jefferson, but the lineage of this idea is long and, for the most part, consistently recognized in our judicial history.
When you look purely at the text of the law and miss its backdrop, you set yourself up for some odd interpretations, ones you'll never see stand in a court, but you might find that odd, because they seem perfectly logical to you.</font>
Liberty does precede the government's
wishes, but it does not take precedence over the law. The Constitution, as a legal document, is the supreme law of the land.
Liberty does not take precedence over law.
Liberty is defined and protected by the law, not the other way around.