Rep. Michele Bachmann is planning a series of seminars so that her new conservative caucus can get a weekly refresher on the Constitution — and she says that she has already enlisted Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as the first speaker.
Bachmann, who is planning this new Constitutional Conservative Caucus in addition to her Tea Party Caucus that kicked off in July, explained the idea of the classes to Lou Dobbs: “We’re going to do what the NFL does and what the baseball teams do: we’re going to practice every week, if you will, our craft, which is studying and learning the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.”
“That’ll set the tone for the week when we’re in Washington,” Bachmann said, adding that she’s “hoping all the members of Congress will partake — it’s bipartisan.”
The Supreme Court’s Public Information Office did not immediately return TPM’s request for confirmation of Scalia’s involvement, but Bachmann told Dobbs that Scalia “has graciously agreed to kick off our class.”
Here’s her talk with Dobbs:
But Scalia isn’t the only one who may be shaping freshman Congressional minds.
Bachmann says she also hopes to enlist Evangelical historian David Barton, a favorite of social conservatives known for his somewhat revisionist history of America’s founding. Barton has some experience in this area — he also taught several of Glenn Beck’s “Beck University” classes, in which he argued that “the Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a listing of all of the sermons that folks had been hearing in church in the decades leading up to the American Revolution.” He’s also previously wondered: “Why don’t we regulate homosexuality?”
Bachmann explained her hope for Barton’s involvement: “The Judeo-Christian heritage isn’t a belief. It’s a fact.”
“One thing we know from the Book of Isaiah is that Isaiah tells us that the government is on His shoulders,” she continued. “We can trust a holy, almighty God with our future and nothing is too big for Him.”
You can watch that video here.
Bachmann said she also hopes to get Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts in on the seminars and, in an e-mail to Andrea Stone of AOL News her deputy chief of staff Brooke Bialke provided some more details on the invitees:
Scholars such as David Barton, members of the media who cherish [the founding] principles such as Sean Hannity, honorable commentators such as Judge Napolitano, honorable judges and justices, and leading legal minds will and have been invited to speak. Topics ranging from the commerce clause to the intersection of constitutional principles with daily concerns such as Medicare will be covered.
[H/T Right Wing Watch]
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