You are quite right; I never noticed that until now. - Edit 2
Before modification by Joel at 12/12/2012 07:29:49 PM
He still makes the argument as resolutely as ever; it has just become transparent rather than convincing. His circuitous argument against judicial review itself moots much of his argument AND job. I have more faith in John Marshalls constitutional interpretation (and that of all his successors) than in Anton Scalias, and not just because Marshalls ruling PRECEDED his dotage. How selectively self-serving is Scalias supposedly strict constructionism:
So where was Scalias strict construction when he voted with the majority to jump into Floridas 2000 election and forbid the statewide recount the STATE Supreme Court ordered? Answer: It disappeared in a puff of partisanship.
The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.—US Constitution, Art. I Sec. 4
So where was Scalias strict construction when he voted with the majority to jump into Floridas 2000 election and forbid the statewide recount the STATE Supreme Court ordered? Answer: It disappeared in a puff of partisanship.
That bit of the constituion you sited clearly refers to Senators and Representatives, and not Presidential elections, though.
I should have, since it is in Article I, always a dead give away a clause concerns Congress. Article II does not even explicitly say individual citizens have a vote for president, only that the state legislatures choose electors. Presumably that means every presidential election in US history was unconstitutional.