(Note: Included in this post - on the extended page - are references to two other articles with links and quotes)
- I wonder if people realize how crucial this election is to the future composition of the Supreme Court? Consider the closeness of the following decisions:
5-4 - Decided to uphold a ban on partial birth abortion.
5-4 - Decided against the death penalty for raping a child under 12.
5-4 - Affirmed the Second Amendment -- does indeed protect an individual's right to own a gun.
5-4 - Rejected efforts to limit access to internet child pornography.
Dutch Sheets has issued a call to prayer. He points out:
The next president of the United States will appoint at least 2, and maybe 3, Justices in his first term. If he serves 2 terms, it could be 5 Justices -- there are 5 of the 9 on the Court 70 years old or older! Since the trend is to appoint younger and younger Justices, the next president will most likely shape the court for the next 30-40 years! This means we are not voting only for a
president, we are voting for the Court we want for the next generation! The vote we cast on November 4th will do more to shape the culture we give our children and grandchildren than any other vote of our lifetime! [Note: A 700 club interview with Sheets can be accessed here].
- - Ed Whelan has written an important article on the Supreme Court as well, saying, "The survival of the historic American experiment in representative
government will be in serious jeopardy if Barack Obama is our next
president. " He compares and contrasts the liberal members of the present court with the even more liberal judges Obama would likely appoint. Serious business, folks. Read it!
- - Finally, Thomas Sowell writes about Obama and the law.
One of the biggest and most long-lasting “change” to expect if Barack Obama becomes president of the United States is in the kinds of federal judges he appoints. These include Supreme Court justices, as well as other federal justices all across the country, all of whom will have lifetime tenure.
Sen. Obama has stated very clearly what kinds of Supreme
Court justices he wants — those with “the empathy to understand what
it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or
old.”
Like so many things that Obama says, it may sound nice if you don’t stop and think — and chilling if you do stop and think. Do we really want judges who decide cases based on who you are, rather than on the facts and the law?
If the case involves a white man versus a black
woman, should the judge decide that case differently than if both
litigants are of the same race or sex? . . .
A court case should not depend on who you are and who the judge is. We are supposed to be a country with “the rule of law and not of men.” Like all human beings, Americans haven’t always lived up to our ideals. But Obama is proposing the explicit repudiation of that ideal itself.
That is certainly “change,” but is it one that most
Americans believe in? Or is it something that we may end up with
anyway, just because too many voters cannot be bothered to look beyond
rhetoric and style? . . .