Another Win For The Supreme Court

Does anyone remember this gem from 1975:

This is a kid-oriented explanation of how laws are supposed to be passed in America. Unfortunately, many of our laws are currently being passed by unelected bureaucrats in government agencies. These bureaucrats are not held accountable by the people because they never have to run for office. Well, on Thursday the Supreme Court took a small step to bring America back to the lawmaking procedure established by our Founding Fathers.

Red State posted an article on Thursday reporting the decision.

The article reports:

The Supreme Court sharply curtailed the power of the EPA to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. In a 6-3 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court sided with conservative states and fossil-fuel companies in adopting a narrow reading of the Clean Air Act.

The Court found that Congress had not authorized the EPA to induce a shift toward cleaner energy sources.

“Congress did not grant EPA…the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the Agency took in the Clean Power Plan,” the majority wrote.
The ruling was spurred by an appeal to a decision last year that struck down a Trump-era power plant rule.

In appealing that decision, West Virginia asked the court to consider whether the EPA has the authority to try to push the entire system away from coal and reshape the country’s electric grid.

The article notes:

Justice Kagan in her dissent acted as though it was the Court’s responsibility to address climate change, rather than interpret the law and the Constitution.

Maybe she needs to go back and reread the Constitution.

If the Biden administration wants to change the source of America’s energy, they need to ask Congress to pass a bill to do that. Elected officials need to be held accountable for the laws they make. Bureaucrats are not elected and cannot be held accountable. That is why our laws are supposed to be made by Congress and not by bureaucrats.

This Is Only The Beginning

NewsMax is reporting today that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block a Texas ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The decision was a 5-4 decision.

The article reports:

By a 5-4 vote, the justices denied an emergency request by abortion and women’s health providers for an injunction on enforcement of the ban, which took effect early on Wednesday, while litigation continues.

One of the court’s six conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined its three liberals in dissent.

“The court’s order is stunning,” liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion.

“Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”

In an unsigned explanation, the court’s majority said the decision was “not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law” and allowed legal challenges to proceed.

The decision illustrates the impact of former Republican President Donald Trump’s three conservative appointees, who have tilted the court further right. All were in the majority.

The conservatives thought that they were supporting a conservative when Justice Roberts was appointed. Obviously we were wrong.

The article concludes:

Texas is among a dozen mostly Republican-led states to ban the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, often at six weeks and sometimes before a woman realizes she is pregnant.

Courts have blocked such bans, citing Roe v. Wade.

The court’s action over the Texas ban could foreshadow its approach in another case over a 15-week ban by Mississippi in which the state has asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The court will hear arguments in the term beginning in October, with a ruling due by the end of June 2022.

Keep in mind that if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned, it simply means that the issue of abortion is left up to the individual states. It does not automatically make abortion illegal. Also consider the fact that a large percentage of the babies that are aborted every year are minorities. In America, there is a genocidal aspect to abortion. Those who support abortion need to consider that. Unfortunately, there is also a lucrative market in the sale of aborted baby body parts. That also should be considered by those who support the practice of abortion. Abortion may be necessary if the mother’s life is truly in danger (tubal pregnancy, etc.), but it should never been seen as a simple procedure to be used as birth control. There is nothing simple about it, and there are many women who have had abortions that suffer physical and mental consequences for years afterward.

What Has Happened To Our Supreme Court?

As I am sure you remember, the Democrats have threatened to pack the Supreme Court if it rules against their agenda items (many of which are unconstitutional). That may explain why Chief Justice Roberts has made some very questionable rulings lately.

On March 8, The Federalist posted an article about a recent dissent by Chief Justice Roberts.

The article reports:

Chief Justice John Roberts was the only dissenter in the U.S Supreme Court’s most recent ruling favoring a couple of Christian students who challenged their university for restricting when, where, and how they could speak about their faith and disseminate materials on campus.

The article includes the following Tweet:

When have eight of the Supreme Court Justices agreed on anything?

The article at The Federalist summarizes the case:

Uzuegbunam et al. v. Preczewski et al. first materialized after Chike Uzuegbunam, a student at Georgia Gwinnett College, was stopped by campus police for handing out religious materials on campus, a reported violation of the school’s “Freedom of Expression Policy,” which limited distributions and other expressions to free speech zones only with permission from the administration. Even after Uzuegbunam moved to the designated areas with permission, however, campus police attempted to stop him from speaking and handing out religious literature, prompting him and another student, Joseph Bradford, to take legal action against the university for violating their First and 14th Amendment rights and seek nominal damages.

The students’ attempts to sue the school, however, were shot down by both a district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit after Georgia Gwinnett College changed its “Freedom of Expression” policy to remove barriers on when and where students could speak on campus and filed a motion to dismiss the case as moot. The Supreme Court took up the case after Uzuegbunam and Bradford noted that their rights were still violated no matter what the university modified its policy to reflect and still required a ruling on nominal damages.

Justice Clarence Thomas authored the opinion of the court, agreeing with the students’ case.

The student’s First Amendment rights were violated. What other recourse did he have but to sue the school?

An Interesting Statement About An Interesting Case

Yesterday CNS News posted an article about the recent Supreme Court case regarding restrictions on religious gatherings in New York State.

The article notes:

The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling on Wednesday imposing an injunction on an order issued by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York that limited the people who could enter a church or a synagogue—but not a liquor store—in areas of the state that he declared “orange” or “red zones” because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Agudath Israel of America had filed suit against Cuomo arguing that he was violating their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to issue an injunction preventing enforcement of Cuomo’s order while the case is being litigated.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted for the injunction. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer voted to deny the injunction.

The following statement by Justice Roberts caught my attention:

Chief Justice Roberts argued against he injunction because he said that Cuomo is not enforcing his order at this precise moment.

“Numerical capacity limits of 10 and 25 people, depending on the applicable zone, do seem unduly restrictive,” Robert conceded. “And it may well be that such restrictions violate the Free Exercise Clause. It is not necessary, however, for us to rule on that serious and difficult question at this time. The Governor might reinstate the restrictions. But he also might not.”

So what Justice Roberts is saying is that the law may be unconstitutional, but he doesn’t want to take a stand on that right now. Sir, you took a sworn oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. Are you going to do that?