Donald Trump has been accused of being a polarizing President.
While it is generally true that you either love him or hate him, Trump isn’t the polarizing figure in America. The reality is that our world-views are the polarizing issue in our culture.
The Supreme Court controversies show this clearly.
Regardless of your political party, the president has the Constitutional obligation to nominate an individual for a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The Senate has the option to hold a vote on this nomination. Since Democrat Senator Harry Reid ended the filibuster for judicial appointments in 2013 – against the advice of Mitch McConnell, in order to seat more of Obama’s federal judges – a simple majority vote can fill the vacant seat.
Concerning unfairness, history shows that almost all nominations with a congruent Senate and President will end with a vote and confirmation. History also shows that almost all fourth year appointments with an opposing party Senate and President
have not ended with a confirmation. The last fact that must be noted is that Democrats wouldn’t care if this was a second-year nomination. The Kavanaugh hearing – which provided no actual evidence of wrong-doing – shows that it wouldn’t matter the year of Trump’s presidency; it would be contested all the same.
The Democrat party treats the Supreme Court as if it is a partisan branch of government, while the Republican party does not. I am not saying that one side is political, while another isn’t. However, political doesn’t equal partisan. The Supreme Court was intended to be a non-partisan branch of the government. They are to be appointed by a President, voted upon by the Senate, and confirmed to a lifetime appointment of accurately applying the Constitution.
The Constitution – and in general, the Republican party – say that our rights are from God. The Supreme Court Justice is put in place to safeguard what was given to us by God. They are not a legislative branch, nor are they able to give new rights. They simply protect rights that are given by God and recognized by our nation. The opposing position suggests that the State supplies your rights. The narrative – as told by Democrat leaders – is that Amy Coney Barrett is going to take away your abortion rights, climate rights, labor unions, etc. Almost all rights that are talked about by Democrats are not God-given. Our founders did not believe in – or secure – your rights to the aforementioned things. Yet these are the issues that they raise repeatedly. The claim is that Barrett – along with Trump’s other appointments – will strip away your rights. This is simply untrue.
This is the question: do you get rights from God or from the State? With an originalist Judge – such as Barrett – you can trust that your God-given rights will be protected. You will not gain additional “rights,” but you will lose no natural rights to a tyrannical system. Originalist judges serve all people by protecting your natural rights instead of granting permission.
With a progressive judge, your rights are given by the State and you always stand to lose them when the opinion of the state changes. Their opinion always changes.
Jeremy Wiggins is a columnist for The Graham Star.