TINLEY PARK - A second resolution, this one calling for the passage of a Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was passed by the IL GOP Platform Committee and the 2012 IL GOP Convention of Delegates Saturday:
A RESOLUTION urging the Illinois delegation to the United States Congress to sponsor the Parental Rights Amendment to the States for ratification.
WHEREAS the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Illinois;
WHEREAS our nation has historically relied first and foremost on parents to meet the real and constant needs of children;
(Photo of IL GOP platform committee members David E. Smith (11th CD) and Karen Hayes (1 CD) is featured in the Tinley Park Patch)
WHEREAS the interests of children are best served when parents are free to make childrearing decisions about education, religion, and other areas of a child’s life without state interference;
WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) has held that “This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition”;
WHEREAS, however, the United States Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville (2000) produced six different opinions on the nature and enforceability of parental rights under the United States Constitution;
WHEREAS this decision has created confusion and ambiguity about the fundamental nature of parental rights in the laws and society of the several States;
WHEREAS, Senator James DeMint of the State of South Carolina and Representative Trent Franks of the State of Arizona have introduced in the United States Congress an Amendment to the United States Constitution to prevent erosion of the enduring American tradition of treating parental rights as fundamental rights:
SECTION ONE: The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.
SECTION TWO: Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.
SECTION THREE: No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article;
WHEREAS this amendment will add explicit text to the Constitution of the United States to protect in perpetuity the rights of parents as they are now enjoyed, without substantive change to current State or federal laws respecting these rights;
WHEREAS such enumeration of these rights in the text of the Constitution will preserve them from being infringed upon by the shifting ideologies and interpretations of the United States Supreme Court;
WHEREAS such enumeration of these rights in the text of the Constitution will preserve them from being infringed upon by treaty or international law;
Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That we, the Illinois Republican Party in its State Convention in Tinley Park, Illinois, on June 9, 2012, affirm the Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution as presented to the United States Congress by Senator James DeMint of the State of South Carolina and Representative Trent Franks of Arizona and as referenced herein.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Assembly urges the members of the United States Congress to propose the Parental Rights Amendment to the States for ratification.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President and Members of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Members of the United States House of Representatives, and to the clerk of the legislative body of each of our sister States.
