Many
pastor friends have written articles and made comments about how they just
cannot vote in this year’s presidential election. I want to make a brief case
on why every Christian should vote. There is a vacancy on the Supreme Court and
the other 8 split along ideology lines evenly, four being conservative viewing
the Constitution as the document that they use to base their decisions and four
being more liberal seeing the Constitution as a fluid or living document that
changes with the times. In going back just 11 years, I found 10 very important decisions
handed down that were determined by one vote; they were 5-4 decisions. With one
vacancy and two justices over the age of 80, it is likely the next President
will have an opportunity to appoint 3 justices creating a 6-3 super majority.
Because of judicial activism where judges are making laws, it is extremely
important to elect a President that will appoint “constructionists” who see
their role as deciding cases based on the Constitution, not based on what they
think the Constitution would mean or say were it written today.
Looking
at the 10 cases of significance decided by one vote over the last 11 years in
chronological order:
1. Kelo v. New London (2005), This decision removed the
limit on eminent domain in the Fifth Amendment. This allowed for cities, for
the sake of economic development, take one person’s land and give it to another
private person or development company.
2. Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) - Here five justices
rewrote federal law to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate
carbon dioxide because of the unproven and highly contentious global warming
theory.
3. Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) - This case upheld the ban on partial-birth abortions, a particularly
gruesome and inhumane procedure, passed by Congress. The dissents made clear
that the liberal justices would have allowed such barbarity to continue under
Roe v. Wade.
4. Boumediene v. Bush (2008) - This decision overrode federal
law and extended constitutional rights to alien terrorists waging war against
the United States.
5. McDonald v. Chicago (2010) and District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) - These two cases affirmed the Second
Amendment right of Americans to bear arms. As the dissenting opinions made
clear, without Justice Scalia’s fifth vote, both cases would have been decided
in favor of the virtual bans implemented by Chicago and the District.
6. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) - Citizens United restored a vital part of the First
Amendment, throwing out unconstitutional restrictions on independent political
speech and expenditures. Overturning this decision is an explicit objective of those
who want to restrict speech they don’t agree with.
7. NFIB v. Sibelius (2012) - This decision overrode the
constitutional limits on the power of Congress to uphold “Obamacare.”
8. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) - Shelby County had gotten rid of an outdated
provision of the Voting Rights Act. This provision had in effect allowed the federal government to take control of the election process usurping local control and was in violation of numerous provisions of the Constitution.
Progressives want the federal government running elections in this country to
give them greater control over the outcomes; overturning Shelby County is a key
objective. And while the Supreme Court upheld the requirement for voter ID in 2008, decisions in the last
few weeks by lower courts indicate this decision will once again be placed
before the Supreme Court in the very near future. Requiring an ID in order to
vote allows for states to be assured of a truthful outcome of any election.
9. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) and Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014) - Both of these decisions ruled in favor of
upholding religious liberty which is a fundamental part of the First
Amendment. Five justices prevented the federal government from forcing the
Christian owners of a business, like Hobby Lobby, to provide
abortion/contraceptive services in their employee health care plans that
violate their religious beliefs. The Galloway decision upheld the right of a
town council or other legislative body to start its meetings with a prayer.
10. Obergfell v. Hodges (2015) - This decision created a non-existent right to gay marriage. It took the choice away from voters and state legislators on how their particular state would define a marriage.
I hope you see the significance of each of these
decisions. Some rulings were such that Christians can agree with and some were
not. Either way, a 6-3 super majority would guarantee that the Supreme Court
would be tilted in one direction for decades to come. It is imperative that
every Christian vote for the candidate that comes closest to your values, for
the candidate you would trust to appoint judges onto the Supreme Court that
would not see their role as one of activism and making laws.
