Has New York seceded?

It seems the Constitution no longer applies there

Meet Judge Abena Darkeh. Judge Darkeh is presiding over the trial of Dexter Taylor, a man from Brooklyn, NY who was arrested in 2022 for building firearms in his basement. According to Taylor’s attorney, the judge interrupted his opening statement, and said, “Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.”

Does the Second Amendment not apply in New York? Is adherence to the Bill of Rights (or any part of the Constitution) optional in America? Perhaps her courthouse was built in an autonomous zone? To those who are paying attention, these may seem like rhetorical questions, as the federal government and state governments frequently selectively ignore the Constitution.

How can a judge, in a court of law, forbid an attorney from citing and arguing on the basis of the supreme law of our country? Shy of seceding from the Union, there is no justification for ignoring the very document which establishes the system of justice under which she serves.

I would argue that she is just anti-gun (which is clearly the case), but her attitude toward the Constitution is one that transcends her, her courtroom, the Second Amendment. Judge (if she can rightly be called that) Darkeh’s attitude toward the Second Amendment mirrors that of many in the judiciary, and in state and federal government, toward the Constitution and toward the law.

This general disdain for the Constitution is the attitude that drives what I termed the catch me if you can https://curetsky.substack.com/p/catch-me-if-you-can-a-great-plot strategy for governing. This general disregard for the law is what drives judicial activism and legislating from the bench. This general lack of respect for established principles drives the erosion of our system of equal protection under the law. This perspective, this approach, this tyranny must end.

Every Representative, every Senator, every President, Vice President, judge, all those in elected office take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. Thus, any vote on or signing of a bill containing elements that are contrary to the Constitution, any assumption of one branch’s power by another branch to which it does not belong, any arrogation of a citizen’s constitutionally-protected rights (like that to keep and bear arms), constitutes a violation of that oath, and the person so transgressing should be removed from office.

While I believe that ejection should be immediate, we do not always have such recourse. Therefore, it is up to voters to ensure such a person is removed at the next election. This also requires voters reading and understanding the Constitution - an uncommon phenomenon, to be sure. The education system has failed America with regard to teaching civics, and it appears this is by design so that we the people will not only overlook such egregious transgressions as judge Darkeh’s, but many will unwittingly support such trespasses.

We the people deserve better. We the people, well, our founders, sought to secure the “Blessings of Liberty” for themselves and their descendants (most of us). Only by returning to constitutional principles, and expelling from office those who would pervert our laws and founding documents, can we cast off the yoke of tyranny and once again secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves.