Maryland state Sen. Joan Carter Conway “doesn’t want to hear about the Constitution.” Hey, those are her words, not mine. Carter is the chairwoman of a Maryland Senate’s Health, Education and Environmental Committee that heard testimony on a proposed bill to let children of illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition rates to attend the state’s public colleges and universities.

During a testy exchange with two of her fellow senators, Carter, who favors the bill, made her remark. According to a news story on the Web site www.wbal.com, Carter “add[ed] that when it was first ratified, the Constitution allowed for slavery until it was abolished by the 13th Amendment.”