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The Supreme Court’s Incredible Term

In recent years before its last term, the Supreme Court had been dominated by activist judges whose rulings undermined religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and our constitutional freedoms.

Thankfully, we have a very different majority on the high court now. Of the Supreme Court’s nine justices, six are conservatives—three appointed by President Trump. There are also three liberal justices, two appointed by Barack Obama and one by Joe Biden.

Due to the new conservative majority, we won several massive victories during the court’s term that just ended. Here’s what you need to know.

Mahmoud v. Taylor

Mahmoud v. Taylor was brought by a group of parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, who objected to the school board’s decision to incorporate LGBTQ indoctrination in elementary schools. It was a victory for both parental rights and religious liberty.

The leftists who controlled the Montgomery County School Board were so committed to LGBTQ ideals that they were not only trying to subject little children to LGBTQ indoctrination but also trying to prevent parents with religious objections from opting their children out of these lessons. As a result, families of multiple faiths joined together and fought all the way to the Supreme Court and won an overwhelming victory.

Writing for the court’s six to three majority, Justice Samuel Alito declared this:

The Board’s introduction of the “LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt-outs, places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion.

In her dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that unless every child is forced to learn about sodomy, drag queens, and transgenderism, America’s public education system would be plunged into “chaos.” The liberal minority had virtually no interest in the rights of parents to protect their children or in their religious freedom to raise their children according to the teachings of their faith.

United States v. Skrmetti

In another huge victory for parental rights, the Supreme Court, in a six to three decision, upheld Tennessee’s law protecting children from radical transgender surgeries and sterilizing drugs.

United States v. Skrmetti was an important ruling against transgender ideology, but, just as importantly, the court’s majority decision recognized that young children do not have the capacity to consent to extreme medical treatments that change their lives forever. That is why children are not allowed to get tattoos.

But greedy elements within America’s healthcare system conspired with radical activists who reject the idea that we are created by God in His image to reflect the natural order. They think they know better than God and believe we can remake ourselves in whatever image we choose.

This greed and hubris have destroyed the lives of thousands of children.

In view of the growing body of evidence indicating that extreme transgender treatments are not based on solid science, the Supreme Court declared that the people of Tennessee have the right, through their elected officials, to regulate the use of puberty blockers and other hormone treatments.

This important victory also reaffirmed similar laws in twenty-six other states.

Medina v. Planned Parenthood

Dr. Dobson and I along with the entire JDFI team want every child to be welcomed into the world and protected by the law. While we work toward that goal, we want to ensure that our tax dollars are not subsidizing the death machine that is Planned Parenthood.

Seven years ago, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order excluding Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood and a woman who used its clinics for services other than abortion sued to overturn McMaster’s order, insisting that Medicaid patients had a right to choose their own providers.

In a somewhat technical six to three decision, the Supreme Court found that the federal law governing Medicaid does not permit individuals and organizations to sue under such circumstances.

Hopefully, other pro-life states will follow South Carolina’s example and act decisively to prevent taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.

Trump v. Casa, Inc.

Perhaps the most important decision of all came in a challenge to President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship—the assumption that children born in the United States to illegal alien parents are automatically US citizens.

In Trump v. Casa, Inc., the justices sidestepped the citizenship issue and focused on the growing problem of leftist federal district court judges issuing nationwide injunctions that restrict the President’s actions not just in their individual districts but in every state of the country.

President Trump has cut funding to Planned Parenthood. He has cut the size and scope of government. He has rolled back the Left’s radical cultural agenda. He has enforced our immigration laws. But on these issues and more, leftist district court judges have blocked the President again and again and again.

To put this problem in perspective, the Harvard Law Review has provided an analysis of the history of nationwide injunctions:

  • Since 1963, 127 nationwide injunctions have been issued.
  • Thirty-two of those nationwide injunctions were issued over the course of twenty years (since 2001) to Presidents Bush, Obama, and Biden.
  • During President Donald Trump’s first term, leftist judges issued sixty-four nationwide injunctions against President Trump. That is twice as many injunctions in four years.
  • Attorney General Pam Bondi noted last week that so far in his second term, President Trump has already been hit with forty nationwide injunctions. The vast majority of them are coming out of just five federal judicial districts.

In a six to three decision from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court severely restricted the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions. In her majority opinion, Justice Barrett blasted the court’s liberals for embracing an “imperial Judiciary.”

Reining in these robed radicals and freeing President Trump to do what he was elected to do is a pro-family victory!

Other Supreme Court victories this past term include a decision upholding a Texas law that prevents Big Porn from harming more children, a decision allowing heterosexual workers to sue homosexual supervisors for sex discrimination, and a decision preventing state and local governments from discriminating against religious charities.

A final point: Dr. James Dobson and I have been urging Christians for decades to be active and involved citizens and voters. Often people, even pastors, will say to us, “Being involved in politics just doesn’t make any difference.”

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! We were just reminded what a big difference it makes.

In elections, we choose presidents and senators. One of the most important things any president will do is nominate justices to the Supreme Court. The senators we elect confirm or reject those nominations. Supreme Court justices have incredible power to mold America on all kinds of important issues, most importantly on what the founders called “the first right”—the freedom of religion.

If Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election, she would have appointed three liberal Supreme Court justices. Every one of our six to three victories I just highlighted would have six to three defeats, and Roe v. Wade would still be the law of the land.

That is why it is so important for men and women of faith to be in church on Sunday, in their place of employment on Monday, and in the voting booth on Tuesday.

 

For more information, read the Opinions of the Court.

Gary Bauer

Gary Bauer

Gary has an accomplished career in the public policy field, having served in numerous leadership positions during the past several decades. He participated in the Reagan administration as Under Secretary of Education, and then White House Head of the Office of Policy Development. After leaving the Reagan White House, Gary became president of the Family Research Council and senior vice president of Focus on the Family.

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