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 | The People for the American Way -- a liberal agency -- states that: "With Justice O'Connor providing the swing vote on critical 5-4 decisions regarding privacy, reproductive rights, affirmative action, government neutrality toward religion, and more, we cannot overstate the profound impact her replacement could have on the direction of American law and society." 1 | ||||||
| Chairman James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family Action -- a Fundamentalist Christian group -- described Justice O'Connor's resignation as "a watershed moment in American history: the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the Court's direction." 2 | ||||||
| Another Fundamentalist Christian group, the
Family Research Council cites Justice O'Connor as providing the deciding
vote on many 5-4 decisions during the last few years such as:
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| Mark Wexler of the Foundation for Autistic Childhood Education and Support wrote: "During her 24 years on the nation's highest court, her reasoning and findings evolved to shape the look of today's court. She accomplished this by finding the ever-so-unpopular middle ground and standing against extremes. Simply put, O'Connor shielded the court - and our country - from unyielding ideologies." 7 |
Observers commented that the choice of her replacement could greatly influence American culture for decades to come. If President Bush nominates, and the Senate approves, a moderately conservative justice to replace Justice O'Connor, there might be minimal impact on the court's future decisions. President George W. Bush has indicated that he does not have a pro-life "litmus test" for his appointments to the Supreme Court. However, he has indicated that he will use Justices Scalia and Thomas as models when selecting new nominees. They are generally regarded as the most conservative justices on the court. They follow a strict constructionist philosophy, as will be described below.
President Bush decided to nominate Judge Roberts, a strict constructionist, apparently out of a desire to drive the court in the conservative direction for many decades into the future. 11 Bush said the nominee "...has devoted his entire professional life to the cause of justice and is widely admired for his intellect, his sound judgment and personal decency." According to an unnamed administration official, Bush interviewed Roberts on JUL-15, made his final decision on JUL-19, and phoned Roberts about 12:30 PM to offer him the appointment. 12
Following Roberts' nomination, but before his confirmation by the Senate, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died. President Bush then nominated Roberts to be the new Chief Justice.
The 2005-APR filibuster controversy in the Senate over the confirmation of lower court justices was not repeated. Judge Roberts' nomination was easily confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 77 to 22. He was installed as the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on 2005-OCT-03, in time for the Fall sitting.
President Bush nominated Harriet Miers, also on OCT-03, to be Justice O'Connor's replacement. Little is initially known about her political philosophy, because she has never been a judge and thus has never issued a court ruling.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death:
Chief Justice Rehnquist had been suffering from thyroid cancer when his health went into a drastic decline in late August, 2005. He died at home in suburban Virginia during the evening of 2005-SEP-03 with his family present.
Rehnquist had consistently voted with the conservative block on the Supreme Court which includes Justices Scalia and Thomas. He was one of the five conservative Justices nominated by Republican Presidents who voted to terminate recount of the election results in Florida during the 2000 election, thus making George W. Bush president. He was one of the two conservative justices who voted against Roe v. Wade, the decision which guaranteed for women an early access to abortion.
President Bush's nominee, Judge Roberts is expected to have minimal impact on the balance of the Supreme Court, because it is difficult to conceive of a replacement justice who would be more consistently conservative than Rehnquist.
How judges interpret the U.S. Constitution and legislation:
Generally speaking, there are two main ways in which justices of the U.S. Supreme Court interpret laws and constitutions:
| As living documents: The document's meaning is continually evolving to meet changing cultural beliefs, practices, and knowledge. |
| As an enduring document: The document's meaning is fixed. It means "today not what current society (much less the Court) thinks it ought to mean, but what it meant when it was adopted." 6 |
Strict constructionists consider the U.S. constitution to be neutral on many moral and ethical issues. If a majority of Supreme Court justices followed this philosophy, the court might declare numerous state and federal laws to be constitutional which:
| Seriously intrude in its citizens' private lives, |
| Criminalize same-sex behavior, |
| Require students to recite Christian prayers in the public schools, |
| Criminalize all abortions, |
| Allow governments to criminalize what the majority -- or a well organized and vocal minority -- feels is immoral. |
| etc. |
American culture would take a major shift to the right.
As of 2005-JUL, three justices of the Supreme Court, all of whom were appointed by Republican presidents, appear to interpret the Constitution in this way. They tend to vote as a conservative block on ethical and moral matters. They are Chief Justice William Rhenquist (appointed by President Nixon) and Justices Antonin Scalia (appointed by President Reagan) and Clarence Thomas (appointed by President George Bush).
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Just Announced: O'CONNOR STEPS DOWN!," People for the American Way, 2005-JUL-01
- Pete Winn, "Justice O'Connor Retires; Battle over Swing-Vote Lies Ahead," CitizenLink, Focus on the Famlly, 2005-JUL-01, at: http://www.family.org/
- "Encourage President Bush to name a CONSERVATIVE Justice," Take Action Alert, Family Research Council, 2005-JUL-05.
- Tim Harper, "Battle brews over Bus court nominee," The Toronto Star, 2005-JUL-20, Page A1 (front page.) Online at: http://www.thestar.com/
- "Bush nominates Roberts to Supreme Court. Republicans praise nominee as Dems vow thorough review," CNN News, 2005-JUL-20, at: http://www.cnn.com/
- Antonin Scalaia, "God's Justice and Ours," First Things 123, 2002-MAY, Page 17 to 21.
- Mark Wexler, "Supreme discontent," Sojourners, 2005-SEP-08, at: http://www.sojo.net/
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Home page > Laws related to religion > Supreme Court appointees > here |
Copyright © 2003 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2005-OCT-04
Author: B.A. Robinson
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