Thursday, March 28, 2024

Why a Justice Who Adheres to the Constitution Is Feared

The American Constitution is a written instrument full and complete in itself. No Court in America, no Congress, no President, can add a single word thereto, or take a single word thereto. It is a great national enactment done by the people, and can only be altered, amended, or added to by the people. — Frederick Douglass (1860)

When President Trump was still a candidate, he addressed the need for more federal judges who are dedicated to the Constitution. He pledged to nominate candidates for federal vacancies who would abide by the actual mandates of that document. Since he has kept many of his campaign promises thus far, this pledge terrifies abortion supporters, eugenicists, gun control advocates, and others who have used the Constitution to oppress America’s citizens. It terrifies them because a newly constructed Supreme Court which abides by the Constitution means an end to the politically controlled decisions that have denied many Americans the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness promised to them by the Declaration of Independence.

A Supreme Court that strictly applies the Constitution means the overturning of rulings that “found” penumbras to deny life to the unborn. Such a Court would end the legal discrimination against the Black community in particular by ending the use of federal money to fund Planned Parenthood’s Negro Project that targets Black and Latino women. A Supreme Court which applies, strictly, the provisions of the Constitution would not ignore its guarantee of the freedom of religion by requiring every state to adopt its own freedom of religion law, nor would it require states to override the will of their electorates by allowing same-sex marriage. It would not infringe on the right to bear arms, and it would not allow the imposition of a tax in order to force abortion on the culture as a matter of health care.

Returning the country to the checks-and-balances structure of the three branches of government terrifies those who have taken over the courts in order to usurp the power of the other branches. Courts that legislate violate the Constitution. Those who used the Court to impose their will upon the nation are now fearful their unjust reign will be brought to an end if the President and Senate appoint men and women who will obey the founding fathers’ mandates as laid out in that document.

From its earliest years, Americans have banded together and fought against the oppression and cruelty of government — and sometimes of its own citizens. Men and women whose political agenda can only thrive if others are oppressed have long forced that agenda on the whole of the nation, sometimes through the courts and sometimes through the legislature. However, this nation is now at a pivotal point that will define whether or not it can indeed be great again for all its citizens, including Blacks who have been in the crosshairs of slavers, segregationists and eugenicists since this country’s founding.

A great opportunity stands before us. Will our leaders have the courage to seize it?

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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