There is no separation between Church and State on the Supreme Court

There is no longer any pretense that religion did not play any role in the ruling that (at least) five conservative judges are poised to overturn. Roe.

In a democracy founded on separation of church and state, we had a Supreme Court on top of a decision that reinforced a theological position on abortion that even most Catholics do not follow either.

All five judges signed the draft opinion to annul Roe (and any rulings related to it) – Additional Chief Justice John Roberts – is a descendant of the Union Confederation. Over the past three decades, the legal team’s blessing has become a de facto demand for Republican presidents who owe their election to Protestant voters. Caucasian and running on promise give a counterRoe Supreme Court.

“Religion is the elephant in the room,” says Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee (BJC), a legal advocacy group for religious freedom. “We all have the right to freedom of religion or not, but we expect our government to be secular and govern for all Americans and not for their religious views. And that principle is threatened by at least the appearance of what is happening in this case,” Tyler added.

She points out that the words “religion” or “religion” do not once appear in Alito’s leaked opinion manuscript, but he calls abortion “a profound moral problem” – statement beyond the provisions of the law. “Many people read the word ‘moral’ as anti-religious, even though he tries not to use religion,” says Tyler, which is why she calls it the elephant in the room.

Rachel Laser, CEO of the American Association for the Separation of Church and State, is more direct. She calls the leaked draft a “religion-based view” that conceals a conservative political agenda — or possibly vice versa. Either way, she said, “It’s scary that the Court is taking a narrow view” at a time when some “very Catholic countries have loosened their restrictions,” such as Ireland. and Mexico.

She called the looming decision of the five in the Federation Council “a clear violation of the separation of church and state…an attack on the core pillar of our democracy.” us and the DNA of the United States.”

The ascent of conservatives, againstRoe Catholic jurists have been in the profession for 40 years, since the founding of the Federal Association in 1982.

Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth College, said: “The intersection of religious rights with conservative politics has happened with the anti-abortion agenda, and because evangelists are short of school seats. legal hypocrisy, they have to convert to Catholics.” “Political conservatism is incorporated into Catholic legal scholarship.”

The Federalist Association had its first major victories under the George W. Bush administration when it successfully proposed and installed Judges Samuel Alito and Roberts – two conservative Catholics – on the Court. Balmer told The Daily Beast: “No one gets their right to vote more than Bush,” And because evangelists have no legal bench, for a long time they outsourced ideas. his ideas for conservative Catholics”.

Having said that, Catholics are not exclusive about abortion.

“According to public opinion, white Protestants are much tougher on abortion than they are on abortion,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of US government at Claremont-McKenna University. with Catholics. They are the audience to which the Republican Party reaches out to their oppositionRoe Test. Catholics line up like most voters – with 2/3 saying Roe should not be reversed. Catholic Bishops are not exposed to public opinion like SCOTUS years.

When in doubt about a judicial candidate’s predisposition to RoeThe Federalist Association can confidently guarantee that Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will be safe choices to fulfill the former president’s promise to overthrow him. Roe. Kavanaugh became the vote that, along with Roberts, put forth theRoe Five. Justice Barrett turns six this year, providing Roberts with space to dissent on “institutional defense” reasons, knowing full well that conservative views will hold.

An anti-abortion Catholic and an incrementalist when it comes to legislation, Roberts advocates for slower restrictions on abortion rights. He is the chief justice, and the certain chaos that will come with overturning the law that has been in place for nearly fifty years will create chaos and tarnish his legacy.

During a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Confederacy at Washington’s Union Terminal in 2007, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a founding member, told a crowd of nearly 2,000: “We thought we had planted a wildflower among the weeds of academic liberalism… Instead, it was an oak tree. “

When Scalia died suddenly in February 2016, Republicans blocked President Barack Obama from taking his seat, assuming his successor would be assigned to the next president.

That May, prominent candidate Donald Trump asked Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the board of directors of the Federalist Association, to hand him a list of 11 judges (soon to grow to 21) who would be help him gain a sense of conservatism. A-Three times married to a wealthy playboy and a longtime pro-choice Democrat, Trump knows he needs to win over Republican voters who doubt he can be trusted. presidents to reflect their values.

“It’s all chosen by the Federalist Association,” Trump boasted. “All the gold standards,” Trump declared as he rallied conservative voters with the promise of providing the Court they wanted.

Leonard Leo is a devout Catholic who frequents the Vatican, where he is sure to receive a heroic welcome for facilitating Catholics and conservatives with six votes on the Court. After Trump’s election in 2016, Leo became a frequent visitor to the White House to help the 45th president fulfill his promise to the white evangelical base that voted for him.

When Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame at the time, testified in 2017 before the Senate for a lower court position, Democratic Sen. Her religious affiliation with a missionary branch of the Catholic Church. Feinstein said: “I think that whatever religion is, it has its own dogma. “In your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion people draw is that dogma lives on in you.”

Feinstein has been prosecuted — and not just by Republicans — for straying into uncomfortable territory close to a religious test. Three years later, Democrats who questioned Barrett for the Supreme Court did not ask her about her religious activity and what connection, if any, it might have to her views. . Roe.

Barrett becomes the sixth conservative Catholic to sit on the Court today. A seventh Catholic, Justice Sotomayor, was appointed by President Obama. Some dispute Justice Gorsuch’s religious identity, noting that he had a Catholic upbringing but as an adult most attended Episcopal churches.

Even so, it’s an incredible explosion of religious conviction, and it’s no coincidence that the main reason we’re about to lose sight of. Roe is the moral theory advanced by the Catholic church.

From Justice Byron White, a Catholic appointed by John F. Kennedy, was one of two dissidents with Roe decision in 1973 to Justice Kavanaugh, whose Catholic upbringing made him a pretty sure bet for the Anointed Federation in 2018, the Vatican’s thinking on abortion took hold.

More battles lie ahead as the uneasy agreement on viability and access to abortion collapses under the weight of five unelected judges. “This is not a case of religious freedom. This is a case of abortion rights,” BJC’s Amanda Tyler told The Daily Beast.

“If Roe overturned, in a post-Roe world, arguments about religious freedom will be made by advocates of abortion. Religious opposition is not just one-sided.”