Tag Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

Debunking 4 Claims the Radical Left Uses to Justify Their SCOTUS Coup

Posted on April 24, 2021 by David E Smith

Proponents of court-packing argue that adding more judges to our nation’s judiciary is the magical solution to urgent problems, and even paint the picture that doing so is an act of goodwill. But far from being a necessity, court-packing is a brazen power-grab by one political party to fix the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices or federal judges to get the political results they want.

Posted in Federal | Tagged Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Joe Biden, Joe Manchin, John Roberts, Jon Ossoff, Lindsey Graham, Neil Gorsuch, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ted Cruz, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Biden’s COVID-19 Plan: Force Taxpayers To Pay For Abortions

Posted on March 10, 2021 by David E Smith

Back in 1994, a worried Delaware taxpayer sent a message to his senator. "Please don't force me to pay for abortions against my conscience," he said. Joe Biden sent an unambiguous response.

"I will continue to abide by the same principle that has guided me throughout my 21 years in the Senate: those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them," he wrote.

Posted in Sanctity of Life | Tagged Abortion, American Rescue Plan, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Chris Smith, COVID–19, EWTN, House Ways and Means Committee, Hyde Amendment, Jackie Walorski, James Lankford, Joe Biden, Jose Gomez, Justice Department, Owen Jensen, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Life Caucus, Roe v. Wade, tax funded abortion, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, U.S. Supreme Court, Virginia Foxx | Comments Off

Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church v. Pritzker

Posted on March 6, 2021 by David E Smith

While a number of cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court challenging government pandemic restrictions that limit churches’ and members free exercise of religion, Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church v. Pritzker presents direct legal conflict between jurisdictions (traditionally the primary basis for Supreme Court hearing) and raises crucial additional questions that need resolution by the U.S. Supreme Court, to re-protect and strengthen our first and most important liberty.

For these reasons, IFI has joined an Amicus Brief in support of Elim Romanian.

Until 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly afforded the highest level of protection to our first freedom, the …

Posted in Religious Liberty | Tagged Amy Barrett, Antonin Scalia, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, Donald J. Trump, Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church v. Pritzker, Employment Division v. Smith, John Roberts, Nevada v. Sisolak, Obergefell v. Hodges, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn vs. Cuomo, Southbay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Religious Liberty is not for Churches, says Biden’s Proposed HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra

Posted on February 15, 2021 by David E Smith

Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). But Becerra raises deep concerns among religious conservatives fighting to protect their First Amendment free speech and religious liberty rights. They are leary of Becerra because he defended the anti-free speech California law (AB 775), struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, that forced pro-life care centers to promote state-sponsored abortions.

Posted in Religious Liberty | Tagged California Family Council, Department of Health and Human Services, First Amendment, James Gallagher, Joe Biden, Jonathan Keller, Religious Liberty, U.S. Supreme Court, Xavier Becerra | Comments Off

Opponents’ Blueprint for a “Secular” Constitution Would Be Unrecognizable to America’s Founders

Posted on February 13, 2021 by David E Smith

Recently, an activist group known as the Secular Democrats of America (SDA) sent a document to the president and the administration with a directive “to take back the mantle of religious freedom and pluralism.”

On the surface, the title—Restoring Constitutional Secularism and Patriotic Pluralism in the White House—makes the SDA’s mission sound appealing.

Posted in Federal | Tagged Coach Kennedy, Danbury Baptists, Equality Act, Fulton v. City of Pennsylvania, Joe Kennedy, Kelle Berry, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, SCOTUS, Secular Democrats of America, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Court-Packing: Why It’s So Dangerous For America

Posted on February 10, 2021 by David E Smith

Eighty-four years ago, on February 5, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a bold plan. He grew tired of the United States Supreme Court striking down key pieces of the signature “New Deal” legislation because it gave too much power to the executive branch.

So, on that Friday in February, President Roosevelt announced his intent to seek legislation to expand the membership of the U.S. Supreme Court from nine to as many as fifteen justices—what came to be known as the “court-packing” plan.

Posted in Federal | Tagged court packing, Franklin Roosevelt, Hatton W. Sumners, living Constitution, SCOTUS, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

The Ideological Non-Sense and Hypocrisy of Leftists

Posted on November 19, 2020 by David E Smith

One of the more grotesque demonstrations of leftist non-sense and hypocrisy was demonstrated a week ago following an episode of the wildly popular Disney show The Mandalorian when “Baby Yoda” eats the unfertilized eggs of a Frog Woman who is transporting her eggs to her husband so he can fertilize them thereby preventing their species’ imminent extinction. Fans of Baby Yoda freaked out, incensed at the lighthearted treatment of what they deemed genocide by the beloved Baby Yoda.

The moral incoherence and hypocrisy should be obvious. In the Upside Down where leftists live, when a human mother hires someone to …

Posted in Media Watch, Sanctity of Life, Sexuality | Tagged 2020 election, Abigail Shrier, Andrew Cuomo, Baby Yoda, Bernie Sanders, Brian Schatz, Chinese Communist Party, Chris Cuomo, Christine Whitmer, CNN, Cory Booker, COVID–19, Downs Syndrome, Edward Markey, Election 2020, Electoral College, Elizabeth Warren, Free Speech, Gavin Newsom, Harry Potter, Irreversible Damage, J.K. Rowling, Jeff Merkley, John Lewis, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, lock-downs, Lori Lightfoot, Maria Cantwell, Michael Bennet, Nancy Pelosi, Patty Murray, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth, The Mandalorian. Ron Wyden. Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Supreme Court, Wall Street Journal | Comments Off

Court Packing—Destabilizing and Unnecessary

Posted on November 6, 2020 by David E Smith

The idea of expanding the size of the U.S. Supreme Court, also known as “court packing,” has surfaced once again, as it did after the Brett Kavanaugh appointment. Often mentioned is a proposal by Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of University of California Berkeley’s Law School. He favors increasing the size of the court to 13 instead of its current nine. There are other calls for a larger court, such as those produced by organizations like “Take Back the Court” and “Demand Justice.”

Posted in Federal | Tagged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Johnson, court packing, Donald Trump, Erwin Chemerinsky, George Washington, Jimmy Carter, Judiciary Act of 1789, Judiciary Act of 1869, SCOTUS, U.S. Supreme Court, University of California-Berkeley, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor | Comments Off

U.S. Senator Duckworth’s Foolish Attack on Amy Coney Barrett

Posted on October 8, 2020 by David E Smith

Illinois’ feckless U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth opposes the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U. S. Supreme Court because Barrett signed a 2006 newspaper ad sponsored by an Indiana pro-life organization that said, "We, the following citizens of Michiana, oppose abortion on demand and defend the right to life from fertilization to natural death. Please continue to pray to end abortion." In an October 2nd letter to her Senate colleagues, Duckworth said the pro-life organization whose ad Barrett signed 14 years ago opposes, "a critical step of the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) process that gave me my children."

Duckworth conveniently omitted what that critical step is.

Posted in Federal, Sanctity of Life | Tagged Amy Coney Barrett, Dick Durbin, Earl Warren, John Hart Ely, Maile Pearl, Roe v. Wade, SCOTUS, Stanford Law School, Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

U.S. Supreme Court and Rules of the Game

Posted on September 30, 2020 by David E Smith

The United States Constitution's Article 2, Sec. 2, cl. 2, provides that the president of the United States "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States." President Donald Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett as U.S. Supreme Court justice who will replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Posted in Federal | Tagged Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, SCOTUS, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Ask the Female Rugby Players If Biological Sex Is the Same as Perceived Gender

Posted on October 16, 2019 by David E Smith

You knew it had to happen sooner or later. It’s bad enough that biological males are beating biological females in races, both in high school and college. It’s bad enough when biological males are beating biological females in weightlifting contests, setting new world records in the process. But it’s even worse when the men are injuring the women in full contact sports.

Posted in Sexuality | Tagged ADF, Ashley E. McGuire, Charlie Evans, Hannah Mouncey, rugby, Sharron Davie, Transgender Agenda, U.S. Supreme Court, women's sports | Comments Off

Conflicts Between Religious Freedom and the Gay Agenda Trouble Most Americans

Posted on June 21, 2019 by David E Smith

A few weeks ago, I shared the findings of an extensive national survey from the Barna Group. The poll was on religious freedom, religious monuments and displays. They have passed along the internals of another large national poll looking at attitudes toward sexual orientation, gender identity and religious freedom.

Posted in Religious Liberty, Sexuality | Tagged Aaron and Melissa Klein, Barna Group, Colorado Equal Rights Commission, Gay Agenda, Oregon Court of Appeals, Religious Freedom, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Bad Laws Lie About Right and Wrong

Posted on May 2, 2019 by David E Smith

The love of a parent for a child is the most natural love there is. Most people find it easier to love their children than any other people on the planet and would sacrifice their very lives for their children if necessary. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that our love for our children is probably the purest and least self-serving love of which we are capable as fallen human beings in a broken world.

Posted in Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life | Tagged 10 Commandments, Abigal Ruth, Abortion, Frank Turek, infanticide, Moses, Norman Geisler, pedophilia, Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off

Battle for the Children: The Parental Rights Amendment Versus the United Nations

Posted on February 1, 2019 by David E Smith

The U.S. Supreme Court of the United States has consistently upheld the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children within the guarantee of liberty found in the U.S. Constitution. A subversive movement emanating from the United Nations, however, is seeking to undermine parental authority by, in effect, making children wards of the State. Under the guise of protecting children, globalists are pushing a draconian agenda known as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which if ratified will overrule the authority of parents to act in the best interests of their children.

Standing …

Posted in Federal, Marriage/Family/Culture | Tagged Fielding School of Public Health, Jim Banks, Michael P. Farris, Migrant Policy Institute, Parental Rights Amendment, ParentalRights.org, SCOTUS, The Washington Post, The World Policy Analysis Center, U.S. Supreme Court, UNCRC, United Nations, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child | Comments Off

It’s the Courts, Stupid

Posted on November 13, 2018 by David E Smith

When Bill Clinton was running for president in 1992, his campaign strategist James Carville gave him the formula for success: Focus on the economy. In Carville’s famous words, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Today, President Donald Trump could easily campaign with a similar mantra, since many Americans are pleased with the economic uptick under his leadership.

But, in terms of a lasting legacy, in terms of societal impact, the real mantra should be, “It’s the courts, stupid.” You can be assured that Trump and his Republican colleagues have a good grasp on this already.

And now, with a strengthened majority …

Posted in Federal, Religious Liberty | Tagged Bill Clinton, Billy Graham, Donald Trump, Heritage Foundation, Hobby Lobby, Jack Phillips, James Carville, Jennifer Bendery, Little Sisters of the Poor, Mark Levin, Mitch McConnell, U.S. Supreme Court | Comments Off