The Pop Culture Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States was established by Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Its primary job is to act as the final interpreter of federal constitutional laws. The court was designed to rule in one of three ways: It’s constitutional; It’s unconstitutional or That’s not within our jurisdiction.
Over the years, the Supreme Court has drifted away from the guidelines set by our Founding Fathers. What we now have is a court that rules based on what’s popular. If something is embraced by the majority of the culture, the justices will find some way to bend the meaning of the Constitution to make it a reality.
I think the greatest example of this activism occurred when the Supreme Court voted to make abortion a constitutional right. In the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, abortion was made legal in special cases based partly on a “right of privacy” for women. Later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Court said that a woman has a right to abortion until “fetal viability” based on the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Last week, by a 5 to 3 vote, the justices struck down a Texas law that required doctors who perform abortions to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery and to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals in case of a medical emergency. These reasonable health standards were voted down because they would create an “undue burden” on the abortion process.
One method used to justify all these absurd rulings is the idea that the Constitution was meant to be a “living document;” which argues that it must be interpreted in light of the moral, political, and cultural climate of the age of interpretation.
A growing number of people are emerging who think the U.S. Constitution is simply dead and doesn’t need to be part of any legal decision. Dick Posner, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, recently made the following remark:
And on another note about academia and practical law, I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation…Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post–Civil War amendments (including the 14th), do not speak to today. David Strauss is right: The Supreme Court treats the Constitution like it is authorizing the court to create a common law of constitutional law, based on current concerns, not what those 18th-century guys were worrying about.
When Posner took office, he had to take an oath to defend the Constitution. For him to now declare it to be a waste of time should automatically cost him his job. Posner will likely escape impeachment because the people who have authority over him do not have enough regard for the Constitution to call him out.
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia raised the possibility of the loss of the 5 to 4 conservative majority that has hindered the leftist agenda. The defection of Justice Anthony Kennedy on the abortion ruling makes me wonder if our hope of a 4 to 4 tie until President Trump can nominate a new judge is wishful thinking. Clarence Thomas is the only justice that remained faithful to the conservative wing.
I do know that a President Hilary Clinton will mean judicial Armageddon. Once there is a solid liberal majority on the Supreme Court, every ruling to follow will fit the liberal agenda. There will be no need for oral arguments, because the same mindset that tells the liberal media what to promote will be in charge of the court.
One way to remain positive is to stay focused on the Lord Jesus’ coming, to take us away from all this madness. Another reason to be optimistic is the realization that we can see the truth. When I saw all those people shouting for joy on the Supreme Court steps after the Gay marriage and abortion ruling, I knew faithful believers have insight that they lack.
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
–Todd
Somebody Needs to Cause Craft to Prosper
Europe and the world continue to reel economically from the fallout of Brexit–the British pulling out of the European Union. Fear of financial free-fall into the abyss of global depression is igniting fires of protests that something must be done. One such protest comes from the very heart of Europe–the area of the world most associated with Bible prophecy and the reviving Roman Empire.
Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan warned that “The unthinkable is happening… A double reaction to Brexit is under way, one financial, one political. The financial one, at least until now, is limited. I am more worried about the political one…There is a cocktail of factors that can lead to various outcomes, including a further push towards disintegration.”
Padoan lectured that those in authority in Europe must begin to listen to the people and their worries over out-of-control immigration, unemployment, and increasing inequality. Austerity measures, he said, exacerbate the problems, and something has to be done to change those budget rules Rome considers to be fueling the crisis.
He said, “Inequality is growing in Europe because growth is weak.”
He said further, “We have had proposals on the table for months that say employment, growth, well-being and equality have to be the priorities… the situation we are in now is exceptional. We have to change.”
There is a sense that Mr. Padoan’s call for new leadership is rising among the common people not only of Europe, but of the whole of the Western world. The message, it is equally observable, is being missed by those who hold the financial reins at the highest echelons of power. There seems to be rebellion building amongst the common folk against the elite who display a wanton disregard for the rest of us.
When thinking on what Bible prophecy has to say about the ultimate outcome of all of the machinations going on in the arena of international power politics these days, the prophet Daniel comes immediately to mind. He was given some very specific things to pass along to us by the messenger sent from the throne room of God. The message had at its heart a most directly pertinent point regarding world economic conditions that will produce history’s most all-controlling leader.
Here’s what the great prophet tells us about this prophetic message that seems to be particularly relevant to the days into which our world is swiftly moving. Daniel was given a profile of the one who will be Antichrist. That beast of Revelation chapter 13, Daniel was told, will be a king of fierce countenance who will prosper greatly.
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25).
It is the first part of the prophecy that is most notable for our purposes. This last and most powerful political/military leader will “cause craft to prosper.” He will apparently take a terrible economic situation that exists on a worldwide scale and turn it around. The economy will be caused, through his manipulations, to turn around in a mighty way.
Adolf Hitler did exactly this, students of recent history will recall. The German economy was in free-fall–actually had hit the bottom. Hitler turned it around.
But, we remember how he did it! All-out war-making–exactly how the angelic messenger told Daniel the final fuehrer–Antichrist–will accomplish the economic turn-around. “Through peace he will destroy many.” The red horse of war, you will remember, follows immediately the rider on the white horse (Revelation chapter 6).
We again remember the perhaps overly used words of Henri Spaak, Secretary General of NATO 1957-1960: “What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the alliances of all people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and be he god or devil, we will receive him.”
The world–particularly the stress-torn EU–certainly appears to be in an economic morass. A central figure from the exact center of Rome is calling for leadership to again cause craft to prosper. According to all other signals that are everywhere the prophecy student looks today, that man–who really is a devil, must be awaiting in the shadows to step into the spotlight of history when the call comes.
That call will come just after another call resounds across the earth’s atmosphere. That call will be Christ’s shout, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).
–Terry