A few links for your Friday morning: The sole Protestant member of the Supreme Court may soon be stepping down, which raises the question: Does the religious make-up of the Court make a difference? Despite modern families’ feeling busier than ever before, a recent study shows that parents are actually spending more one-on-one time with … Read more
You’ll recall the law recently passed in Baltimore requiring crisis pregnancy centers to advertise that they don’t provide birth control or abortions (thanks to some prodding of the city council by Planned Parenthood). The archdiocese, however, isn’t taking the ruling lying down: Archbishop Edwin O’Brien announced yesterday that they are suing the city of Baltimore, … Read more
Everyone remembers this awkward moment from January’s State of the Union address: Justice Alito made headlines at the time for his “not true” comment, but now Chief Justice Roberts is speaking out on the incident. When asked about it while visiting the University of Alabama School of Law yesterday, Roberts responded, “To the extent the … Read more
A friend passed along an article written by author Laurence M. Vance, about American Right to Life’s recent assault on Dr. Ron Paul’s pro-life position. Vance comes out swinging: The right-to-life movement is a failure. Although millions of dollars have been spent on lobbying, marches, and protests since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, millions of women … Read more
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court reminded us once again of the never-ending debate as to whether judges should “legislate from the bench.” Political conservatives, of course, say that they must not. The job of judges, we are told, is to judge … Read more
The confirmation of nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice is almost a certainty. She’s a woman, a Hispanic, and the pick of a popular president who leads the party that controls the Senate. Democratic leadership in the Senate is determined to complete hearings before the Judiciary Committee and get a confirmation vote before … Read more
Flannery O’Connor couldn’t have written it better, although she would have found a way to make it funny: A wealthy abortionist, who specializes in the destruction of children exactly as old and fully developed as those you see doctors saving in the preemie ward, stays out of prison for his activities thanks to a … Read more
The president, I have decided, is a genius. He knew that by receiving Notre Dame’s honors, he would solidify the wisdom of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for the most anti-life candidate ever. He also understands that the best way to counteract the so-called Catholic influence on the present Supreme Court is to … Read more
Why do Catholics make such good judges? Well, it depends what you mean by "Catholics," I suppose. What I had in mind was a person in no doubt about any of the propositions in the Catholic creeds — including no doubt that the words mean what they say, and not something else. That … Read more
It’s funny the things that sometimes irritate you. At the moment I am greatly — some might say unreasonably — irritated by a bill that passed the United States last week. If this bill becomes law, it will expand the number of seats in the United States House of Representatives from 435 to 437 — … Read more
I recently attended a meeting of pro-life leaders from around the country, called in order to formulate a national strategy on how to defeat the promised Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). During the 2008 presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama infamously stated, to much applause, “Well, the first thing I’d do as president is, is sign … Read more
One of the great strengths of the Roman Republic was its courageous realism. When Hannibal defeated the Romans in the first great encounter between the two armies, a battle in northern Italy, the leaders of the city called the people together to give them the news, and the opening words of the announcement were these: … Read more
As if doffing the black robes of judges and donning the mantles of secular pontiffs, three justices of the United States Supreme Court on June 29, 1992, delivered themselves of this profession of faith: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and … Read more
In back-to-back days of June this year, the U.S. Supreme Court came down with opinions in two different cases that illustrate very different judicial philosophies. The cases themselves are unrelated, and they are generally seen as coming down on different sides of the political spectrum, but together they provide a good lesson about constitutional interpretations. … Read more
Evoking the power of the human heart is the daily bread of American pop culture. It rarely raises an eyebrow. But the use of “heart” by Barack Obama to describe his criteria for picking judges is troubling. Speaking to Planned Parenthood just over a year ago, Obama said: We need somebody who’s got the heart, … Read more
America’s position on homosexual activity has radically changed over the past few decades. Fifty years ago, every state criminalized homosexual acts under “sodomy laws.” As recently as 1986, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of such laws. In 2003 there were still 13 states that criminalized homosexual acts (though the laws were rarely enforced). That … Read more
An original copy of the United States Constitution is on display in the rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, it rests in a preservative display case filled with argon. When the building closes for the night, the case moves onto a conveyance system … Read more
I am a Catholic living in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and I chose not to attend the March for Life. That will probably seem odd to many fellow Catholics who share my staunch pro-life views. It shouldn’t. The fact is, the pro-life movement has overlooked a crucial point in the effort to end abortion: … Read more
This year marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most unfortunate and controversial Supreme Court decisions, Everson v. Board of Education. While the case had a good result, in that the Court ruled that Catholic parents could be reimbursed for their children using public buses to get to parochial school, the case has a … Read more
