Supreme Court Abolishes July 4th as Freedoms Day

I should be happy today. It is Americans 'Freedoms Day'. But it is no more.

As a member of the Supreme Court bar, I am horrified by the direction of the high Court I once revered. The Court has lost its legal compass.

The Supreme Court -- with its Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (women's reproductive freedom), Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (prayer in public schools, Carson v. Makin (government funding of religion), American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019) (Christian cross on public property), etc. decisions -- has abolished major American freedoms and taken us back to the "bad old days."

I support expanding the Supreme Court to thirteen justices and appointing four justices that understand the virtue of freedom for all (not just Christians).

5 Worst Supreme Court Decisions

 

The Jefferson Madison Center for Religious Freedom's list of the five worst Supreme Court decisions:

#1 - Plessy v. Furgeson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) - legitimized state laws re-establishing racial segregation under the guise of "separate but equal".

#2 -Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944) - imprisoned Japanese-Americans during World War II solely because of their ancestry.

#3 - Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. __ (2022) - abolished a fundamental liberty for the first time -- women's reproductive freedom -- reversing long standing precedents Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

#4 - Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005) - started tearing down the Wall of Separation of Church and State -- a bedrock American principle enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment -- by allowing a Fraternal Order of Eagles Ten Commandments monument remain on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. Thus, the Court advanced Christian nationalism by paving the way for American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019) (Christian cross on public property), Carson v. Makin (2022) (funding religious schools) and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (above) (conservative Christian morality).

#5 - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. 558 U.S. 310 (2010) - injected corruption into U.S. elections by holding the First Amendment's free speech clause prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, including nonprofit corporations, labor unions and other associations. In other words, judicial alchemy turned corporations into people.

Supreme Court Enslaves Women, Terrorizes the U.S.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Barrett should be charged with domestic terrorism, as well as, slavery in violation of the 13th Amendment. They have sentenced millions of women (in the future) to forced carrying pregnancies to term and for raising unwanted children. In addition to sentencing them to 9 months plus 18 years in jail, their pay checks should be garnished to pay for the unwanted children's upbringing, as well as, the financial losses that the women will suffer for lost education and job opportunities.

The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (No. 19-1392, June 24, 2022) decision is putrid apple pie. Shameful. Impeach Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barret for "b
ad behavior".

Supreme Court Guts First Amendment's Establishment Clause

The six Christian nationalists on the U.S. Supreme Court predictably violated their oaths of office and held today in Carson v. Makin that Maine cannot deny funding religious schools. Denying funding of religious institutions is the cornerstone of the First Amendment's establishment clause (made applicable to the States via the 14th Amendment): "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Barrett should be impeached as they have clearly exhibited "bad behavior." 

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented -- Justice Sotomayor writing: “This Court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build.”

Add two secularists to the Court if you believe in diversity

It is interesting that the White House seeks diversity in its judicial nominations. I assume that Judge Ketanji Jackson will make a fine justice. But I would point that when she takes a seat on Supreme Court after Justice Breyer's retirement, blacks will hold 22% of the seats while the U.S. black population is 12% (2020). That doesn't bother me much either. (Making up for lost time.) Rather, I am concerned 100% of the justices self-identify with a religion yet 23-26% of Americans self-identify as "nones". If America truly believes in diversity, it is time to put two non-religiously affiliated justices on the Supreme Court and end Christian privilege. While I'm at it, there are two justices on the Court who identify themselves as Jewish (22%), while Jews comprise 1.9% of the U.S. population. That is not overly concerning either, as many Jews are secular. Ah, but Justice Breyer (Jewish) blew it in 2005 when he was the deciding vote in Van Orden v. Perry which permitted a Fraternal Order of Eagles Ten Commandments monument to remain the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. I don't forgive him for that awful vote.

Supreme Court's Covid mandate is disgusting

 Six justices on the Supreme Court of the United States are wacko -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett. STUPID. Federal law gives the Dept. of Labor's OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) the authority to protect workers from “grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.” With over 800,000 Covid deaths, I would say that SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) is "physically harmful." Wouldn't you? The 6-3 in National Federation of Independent Business v. Dept. of Labor ruling against OSHA's mandate affecting employers with over 100 workers is senseless. And, why does OSHA have the authority to issue such a mandate? Two reasons. First, the federal government has the power under the U.S. Constitution to regulate interstate commerce. Second, Congress delegated its authority to regulate interstate commerce in the relevant area to OSHA. This case, from a legal perspective, should have been a no-brainer. Well, yeah, the no brains won.

Justice for Atheists

People of color and the LGBTQ movements have had their days in the Sun. I support equality. Good for them.

Sadly, the rights of Atheists haven't advanced much since the 1963 prayer cases. Every day, we face the indignity of Christian privilege with the U.S. motto of "In God We Trust," "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, oaths with "So help me God" and politicians with "God bless America." I regularly take a black marker and cross "In God We Trust -- which I don't" -- off the currency in my wallet. 

I encourage all Americans who believe in religious freedom as espoused by Presidents Jefferson and Madison to do the same. Congress should repeal the invidious motto and IGWT on currency laws -- for starters.

And then there are Christian crosses and Ten Commandment monuments on public property. Ug. FYI, contrary to statements that the Ten Commandments are displayed on public property in Washington, D.C., there is no English version of the Ten Commandments displayed there, including the courtroom of the Supreme Court. In fact, the Hebrew translation Moses's tablet into English actually commandments people to kill, steal and commit adultery. Fascinating.

Christian supremacist judges abolish religious freedom

On February 2nd, Christian supremacists on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals -- Judges Amy J. St. Eve and Diane P. Wood -- put the nails in religious freedom's coffin when the Court ruled 2-1 that a nativity scene on the Jackson County Courthouse lawn did not violate the Establishment Clause. The case is Woodring v. Jackson County, Indiana (7th Cir. February 2, 2021).

The court held that the HISTORY of Christianity in America was sufficient to ignore the First Amendment's Establishment Clause mandate that government may not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonbelief (McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky (2005)).

The court descended lower than the candy cane exception -- which balanced religious symbols (nativity scene) with secular symbols (candy canes) to make everything hundy-dory. 

Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are squirming in their graves to see the principle of separation of religion and government run over by judges unfaithful to the Constitution. R.I.P.

No Equal Justice Under Law In The Roberts' Court

There is a stench of Christian privilege at the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, the Court said "no" to women who want to obtain mifepristone, also known as RU-486, via the mail during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mifepristone, when combined with another drug, can induce the equivalent of an early miscarriage.

But there is a catch. The FDA requires mifepristone to be picked up in person by the patient at a hospital, clinic or medical office.

According to Justice Sotomayor: "Of the over 20,000 FDA-approved drugs, mifepristone is the only one that the FDA requires to be picked up in person for patients to take at home."  Food & Drug Administration v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, (US Sup. Ct., Jan 12, 2021, Sotomayor, dissenting).

The Court's decision, tho unsigned, was by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh Gorsuch and Barrett.  The Chief Justice filed a short concurrence writing in part: "courts owe significant deference to the politically accountable entities with the 'background, competence, and expertise to assess public health.'”  Translate: The Court's Christian supremacists use "deference" as a tool to subjugate women to their fundamentalist Christian morals.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan, filed a dissenting opinion, saying in part:

Due to particularly severe health risks, vastly limited clinic options, and the 10-week window for obtaining a medication abortion, the FDA’s requirement that women obtain mifepristone in person during the COVID–19 pandemic places an unnecessary and undue burden on their right to abortion.  ...

What rejoinder does the Government have to the possibility that refusing to suspend the FDA’s in-person requirements for mifepristone during the COVID–19 pandemic will cause some women to miss the 10-week window altogether? No cause for concern, the Government assures this Court, because even if the FDA’s in-person requirements cause women to lose the opportunity for a medication abortion, they can still seek out a surgical abortion. What a callous response.

Justice Breyer, dissented, without joining or filing an opinion. 

Bottom line: religion (i.e., fundamentalist Christianity), not justice, controlled the outcome of this case.

I've been to the Supreme Court many times, including filing petitions for certiorari and friend of the court briefs. I am heart broken by a number of Court's recent decisions, including this case. The pillars holding up Equal Justice Under Law on the Court's West Pediment are crumbling.

Freedom From Government Sponsored Religion Is America's First Liberty

President Trump issued a lengthy Proclamation recognizing Dec. 29, 2020 as the 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. The Proclamation reads in part: "Before the Magna Carta was drafted, before the right to free exercise of religion was enshrined as America’s first freedom in our glorious Constitution . . ." 

Actually, the "free exercise of religion" is the SECOND right listed in the First Amendment. The "FIRST right" is the freedom from "an establishment of religion" -- that is, freedom from government sponsored religion. Or, as Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison expressed the principle, a separation of church and state. 

Robert V. Ritter, Founder, Jefferson Madison Center for Religious Liberty 

 

Photo: President James Madison. On June 8, 1789, (then) Virginia Representative Madison proposed a bill of rights in the First Congress. As modified, they would become the Bill of Rights in 1791.