Checks and Balances

Liberty Counsel Entirely Serious About Impeaching Obama

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/4/2011 10:15 am

Last month, Liberty Counsel sent out an email calling for the impeachment of President Obama. Now, over the weekend, they sent out another email admitting that even though "Congress is unlikely to seriously look into the issue," they are entirely serious and will continue to demand that Obama be removed from office:

[T]here is an unchecked arrogance, even a condescending, elitist mindset evident in the Obama White House. The President behaves as though he is somehow above the law!

This Administration seems to believe that the Constitution is pliable and subject to political expedience. They act  as though their insights are greater than our Founding Fathers and the statesmen who gave shape and content to the Constitution!

The Obama Administration presumes it is "bigger" than the presidency.

No man is bigger than the office he is elected to hold. Through carefully crafted checks and balances, our Founders made sure that no office holder would be more "empowered" than the Constitution allowed.

Barack Obama's subversion of our Constitution must be stopped! Those colluding with him in Congress, the Administration, the federal bureaucracy, State offices, and any other position of public trust must also be held accountable.

Liberty Counsel is continuing to demand that elected officials (all of them!) live up to their Oaths of Office - or be FIRED, RECALLED, or IMPEACHED.

Newt Gingrich's First Amendment Hypocrisy

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 7/22/2010 10:19 am

Wasn't it just the other day that I was writing about the Religious Right warning Christians that the Obama administration was out to destroy their "freedom of religion" by referring to it merely as "freedom of worship"?  

So how do they justify this bigoted rant from Newt Gingrich arguing for the need to limit the religious rights of Muslims in America?

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

...

America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.

No mosque.

No self deception.

No surrender.

The time to take a stand is now - at this site on this issue.

As Steve Benen points out, Gingirch's suggestion doesn't even make any sense: 

So, by Newt Gingrich's estimation, Saudi Arabian officials are wrong to squelch religious liberty in their country -- so we should be equally wrong in ours. Gingrich sees Saudi Arabia discriminating and showing a lack of tolerance for spiritual diversity and, in effect, concludes, "Let's follow their lead."

But in addition, how exactly does does Gingrich plan on going about preventing this Mosque from being built considering that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"? 

I thought the Religious Right was willing to lay down their lives to defend religious liberty? 

And doesn't limiting free exercise of religion in America directly contradict the mission of Gingrich's own organization, Renewing American Leadership?

How To Renew American Leadership

So what should Americans who love their country, and believe in its ideals, do to reclaim the vision so ably constructed for us by the founding fathers and every legal immigrant who has come here to achieve the American Dream? Our initial prescription for Renewing American Leadership can be summarized in four points.

1. It is imperative to teach Americans the truth about the greatness of their country.

2. It is imperative to return to limited government by restoring our system of constitutional checks and balances.

3. It is imperative to protect and encourage the free exercise of religion in America.

4. It is imperative to take control of our borders, and reform our immigration system to admit people able to contribute the skills and the values we need for America’s future.

Never Underestimate The Right's Capacity For Self-Aggrandizement

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 2/17/2010 10:59 am

You have to hand it to the Right because when they produce a manifesto, they go all out.

When Religious Right signed on to the Manhattan Declaration a few months back, they hailed it as akin to standing up to the Nazis and declared themselves willing to suffer everything from exile to death to defend it, while comparing themselves to those who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Today, right-wing leaders are gathering to sign The Mount Vernon Statement, which they claim will "define the conservative movement’s principles and objectives," and they are literally going to George Washington's farm outside of Washington DC to do it:

More than 80 conservative leaders will gather near the home of President George Washington tomorrow to unveil a new declaration of the fundamental principles driving right-wing grassroots movements.

The Mount Vernon Statement will be signed at Collingwood Library, which was originally part of George Washington's River Farm, by a delegation led by Edwin Meese III, attorney general during the Reagan administration.

Of course, the text of the statement has already been released, so the signing ceremony is all for show.  Here it is - prepare to be underwhelmed:

We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.

These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.

Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?

The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.

The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.

A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.

A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.

* It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.

* It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.

* It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.

* It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.

* It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.

If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.

We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.

Wow!  So conservative are committing themselves to supporting limited government, liberty, free enterprise, national defense, and family values?  Thank God they drafted this statement, otherwise how would anyone ever have known this? 

And because the document is so monumentally groundbreaking, of course the signers had to have their names attached in fancy script: 

Finally, just to get a sense of the self-importance of this manifesto, currently the website contains just the text of the statement ... along with links to the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Apparently, those behind this effort consider this document to be of equal importance.

When The Going Gets Tough, The Right Starts A New Group

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 6/30/2009 3:06 pm

Despite all of the predictions that the Religious Right was on its deathbed, they sure do seem to be extremely active of late.

Of course, they don't seem to have any new ideas or desire to change their agenda in any way, but in last few months have seen a flurry of new groups popping up designed to fill some unseen void that has been apparently responsible for their current predicament.

In the last few months we seen the arrival of the Faith and Freedom Institute, which was followed by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, while Newt Gingrich was unveiling his Renewing American Leadership effort, and Lou Engle was announcing his Call to Action.

And now we come to find out via Pam that pretty much every Religious Right group has joined together under the umbrella of something called The Freedom Federation, incuding Renewing American Leadership and Call to Action, which were just recently created - so now you have two new groups created specifically to fill this void joining a new coalition effort ... designed to fill this very same void:

Press Conference to discuss the formation of the Freedom Federation and its purpose.

The Freedom Federation is a new and unique federation of some of the largest multi-ethnic and transgenerational faith-based organizations in the country committed to plan, strategize, and work together on common interests within the Judeo-Christian tradition to mobilize their grassroots constituencies and to communicate faith and values to the religious, social, cultural, and policymaking institutions.

-- American Association of Christian Counselors
-- American Family Association
-- Americans for Prosperity
-- Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND)
-- Campaign for Working Families
-- Catholic Online
-- Concerned Women for America
-- Conservative Action Project
-- Eagle Forum
-- Exodus International
-- Faith and Action
-- Family Research Council
-- High Impact Leadership
-- Liberty Alliance Action
-- Liberty Counsel
-- Liberty University
-- Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN)
-- Marc Nuttle
-- Morning Star Ministries
-- National Clergy Council
-- National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
-- Renewing American Leadership
-- Strang Communications
-- Teen Mania
-- The Call to Action
-- Traditional Values Coalition
-- Vision America

Wow - did they put this coalition together by going through our list of right-wing organizations and simply inviting all the groups and individuals we write about most frequently to join?  Sorry,  Christian Anti-Defamation Commission  - if only we had written about you a few more times, maybe you would have been deemed worthy of inclusion in this ground-breaking new effort by the Religious Right ... to do whatever it is this new organization is going to do.

Honestly, what purpose can this possibly serve?  Are the Council for National Policy and the Arlington Group somehow lacking and so these groups decided that what they really needed was yet another coalition to carry out the same work?

Anyway, this effort seems to be organized by Rick Scarborough ... or at least he is the first to send out a press release trying to take credit for it:

Today, representatives of some of America's largest faith-based groups gathered in the nation's capital to announce that they will organize and mobilize their grassroots constituencies in a common cause.

At the National Press Club, Vision America President Pastor Rick Scarborough joined other conservative leaders, including Mat Staver, dean of Liberty University Law School and the Federation's convener, to formally announce the formation of the Freedom Federation.

The Federation encompasses individuals of different races, faiths and backgrounds who are committed to the preservation of freedom and American values, founded on the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Freedom Federation is not a separate organization, but an association of like-minded national organizations with large and unique religious and political constituencies.

...

Scarborough commented: "These organizations represent some of the nation's largest constituencies of youth, Hispanics, African-Americans, women, pastors and churches, who are uniting to defend a tradition increasingly under attack."

The Freedom Federation is committed to defending and extending core values expressed in the Declaration of American Values, the organization's founding document. These include the right to life, the institution of marriage, parental rights, religious liberty, an environment free of pornography and indecency, the right to property, freedom from excessive taxation, and national sovereignty. The statement is posted on the Vision America website at www.visionamerica.us.

And here is their Declaration of American Values, which they vow to protect with their lives:

We the people of the United States of America, at this crucial time in history, do hereby affirm the core consensus values which form the basis of America’s greatness, that all men and women from every race and ethnicity are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We adhere to the rule of law embodied in the Constitution of the United States and to the principles of liberty on which America was founded. In order to maintain the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves and our posterity, and recognizing that personal responsibility is the basis of our self-governing Nation, we declare our allegiance –

1. To secure the sanctity of human life by affirming the dignity of and right to life for the disabled, the ill, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and for the unborn from the moment of conception. Every person is made in the image of God, and it is the responsibility and duty of all individuals and communities of faith to extend the hand of loving compassion to care for those in poverty and distress.

2. To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

3. To secure the fundamental rights of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children regarding their upbringing and education.

4. To secure the free exercise of religion for all people, including the freedom to acknowledge God through our public institutions and other modes of public expression and the freedom of religious conscience without coercion by penalty or force of law.

5. To secure the moral dignity of each person, acknowledging that obscenity, pornography, and indecency debase our communities, harm our families, and undermine morality and respect. Therefore, we promote enactment and enforcement of laws to protect decency and morality.

6. To secure the right to own, possess and manage private property without arbitrary interference from government, while acknowledging the necessity of maintaining a proper and balanced care and stewardship of the environment and natural resources for the health and safety of our families.

7. To secure the individual right to own, possess, and use firearms as central to the preservation of peace and liberty.

8. To secure a system of checks and balances between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches within both state and federal governments, so that no one branch – particularly the judiciary – usurps the authority of the other two, and to maintain the constitutional principles of federalism which divide power between the state and federal governments.

9. To secure our national sovereignty and domestic tranquility by maintaining a strong military; establishing and maintaining secure national borders; participating in international and diplomatic affairs without ceding authority to foreign powers that diminish or interfere with our unalienable rights; and being mindful of our history as a nation of immigrants, promoting immigration policies that observe the rule of law and are just, fair, swift, and foster national unity.

10. To secure a system of fair taxes that are not punitive against the institution of marriage or family and are not progressive in nature, and within a limited government framework, to encourage economic opportunity, free enterprise, and free market competition.

We hereby pledge our Names, our Lives and our Sacred Honor to this Declaration of American Values.

The Time Has Come to Panic

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 5/14/2009 5:34 pm

I've written several posts recently debunking the claim that the James Dobson and, by extension, the Religious Right are about to throw in the towel. While the Republicans are out of power at the moment and the Religious Right is growing fearful that it is being marginalized as the GOP seeks to regain its footing, that didn't mean they had any intention of giving up the fight.  As Dobson put it recently, "we're not going anywhere."

And they aren't, but it looks like the Right's irrelevance at the moment is starting to absolutely terrify its leadership. That's because, as Dan Gilgoff reports, Dobson is admitting that they have no power at the moment and cannot prevent the "utter evil," by which he meant things like hate crimes legislation, coming from Congress from getting passed and he literally cannot understand what is happening to this nation:

I've been on the air for 32 years and I've never seen a time quite like this. It just illustrates what happens when we don't have what the Founding Fathers referred to as checks and balances, where the excesses of one party or one branch of government limit the reach of power hungry and self-serving people and keeps them form doing things that are harmful to the country. That's the way the system was designed. We have 2 major political parties in this country, not one. And bipartisanship is a media creation that's designed to promote one point of view instead of the debate that should occur. And that's why media doesn't talk about bipartisanship when conservatives are in power...[today] the radical left controls the executive branch through the president, and the Congress... and the Judiciary through the courts... now they control it all, including every department of government. As a result, the legislation that should shock the nation, if people were paying attention, is being rushed into law.

...

I want to tell you up front that we're not going to ask you to do anything, to make a phone call or to write a letter or anything.

There is nothing you can do at this time about what is taking place because there is simply no limit to what the left can do at this time. Anything they want, they get and so we can't stop them.

We tried with [Health and Human Services Secretary] Kathleen Sebelius and sent thousands of phone calls and emails to the Senate and they didn't pay any attention to it because they don't have to. And so what you can do is pray, pray for this great nation... As I see it, there is no other answer. There's no other answer, short term.

Of course, this isn't to say that Focus on the Family isn't trying to prevent passage of hate crimes legislation, because they are. 

In fact, Dobson dedicated most of his program to this legislation as he was joined by Tom Minnery, Gary Bauer, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and Rep. Steve King, who then proceeded to spread just about every right-wing lie about this legislation. Listening to the program, the sense of panic among the group was palpable:

Dobson: I love my country. And I love the institution of the family. And I love the church. And I love the clergy. And almost every good thing is under attack today.

Gohmert: And I'm told sometimes, when I get passionate and upset about this, that I don't sound as sane as I would like to.

Dobson: Are you kidding? What you're doing is desperately needed and there are very few people who are willing to say it like it is.

Bauer: We need about 250 members of Congress as insane as you.

Gohmert: But, you know, this is the way we lose nations. It's like Colson said several years ago: "you cannot have the morality of Woodstock and not expect a Columbine."  Or not expect a Madoff. You can't have those morals and not get where we are today and so we've got a tough fight ahead of us, but I know in my heart, in my soul, that we can have another 200 years, but there is only one way - and that's if we have another awakening.  If we don't, I'm not sure what's left.

Dobson says he's "never seen a time quite like this" and I have to agree because I have never seen the Religious Right as utterly terrified as it is at the moment.

Update: Media Matters has posted this clip of Dobson once again claiming the legislation would protect necrophilia, pedophilia, and incest:

The Right Tests Its Strength in Targeting DOJ Nominees

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 2/5/2009 12:02 pm

Earlier this week, we noted how, after eight years of claiming that the Senate's role was to rubber stamp the President's nominees, a gaggle of Religious Right activists had suddenly discovered the importance of checks and balances and the chance to provide an opportunity for "serious deliberation" on potential appointees ... mainly because they didn't like some of President Obama's choices to serve in the Justice Department.

A lot of this initial opposition was driven by the right-wing Catholic group Fidelis, which has been targeting David Ogden with press releases and reports and the Family Research Council, which has been targeting him as a man who "has built a career on representing views and companies that most Americans find repulsive."

And now it looks like the fight against Ogden, Dawn Johnsen, whom the Right hates because she worked at NARAL, and Thomas Perrelli, whom they hate for representing Terry Schiavo's husband, has become the first full-fledged test of the Religious Right's influence under the new president:

Christian conservatives are challenging President Barack Obama's picks for top Justice Department positions, charging that past clients like Playboy taint their resumes.

The criticism comes ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Thursday for David Ogden, Obama's pick for deputy attorney general, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department.

...

The challenge to Obama's Justice picks come as conservative evangelicals seek to limit the power of the new Democratic administration and maintain their own within the Republican Party.

Some Republicans believe a tight embrace of social conservative values turns off independents and moderates, but many Christian right leaders resist compromise and contend that, if anything, the GOP has strayed too far from its principles.

For it's part, the Right is throwing all of its standard accusations at the nominees: 

"Ogden has been an activist in the support of a right to pornography, a right of abortion and the rights of homosexuals," said Patrick Trueman, a former Justice Department official during the first Bush presidency who is now in private practice.

"It isn't so much that he's represented pornographers or that he's been a porn attorney, but it's his world view, and his world view reflects President Obama's world view," said Trueman, echoing criticism from conservative activist groups like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family.

...

Tom Minnery, a vice president at Focus on the Family, charges that through the nominations, the new Democratic administration is not depoliticizing, but re-politicizing the Justice Department.

"They take our breath away the more we learn about these people," said Minnery. "This is left-wing politicization of the Justice Department. This is not a Justice Department that looks like America."

As a side note, Focus on the Family has an article up opposing these nominees on its CitizenLink website that carries this title: "Obama's Judicial Nominees Stand on Anti-Family Principles"

Memo to Focus: people nominated to work in the Justice Department are not "judicial nominees" - people nominated to be judges are. 

How Quickly Things Change

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 2/3/2009 4:03 pm

Once upon a time, it was an article of faith among right-wing groups that the President was entitled to deference regarding his choices to fill the various governmental positions, especially the cabinet and sub-cabinet positions, and it was the Senate's role merely to confirm or reject these nominees. 

Of course, that time just happened to coincide with President Bush's time in office ... and now that it has passed, so too apparently has that standard:

Thirty pro-life leaders and representatives of pro-life groups representing millions of Americans have authored a letter to Senate leaders opposing the fast-tracking of the next set of nominees. They say President Barack Obama has appointed people to key positions who are pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia.

According to the letter they provided to LifeNews.com, the groups are specifically opposed to Dawn Johnsen, David Ogden, and Thomas J. Perrelli, each of whom are top Justice Department picks.

Predictably, they are now concerned about the "politicization" of the Justice Department and demanding that these nominees face "serious deliberation" and be required to give "serious answers":

"If confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve in high offices within the Department of Justice, Dawn Johnsen, David Ogden, and Thomas J. Perrelli could have a dramatic impact on the state of this nation's legal order," the letter says.

"Each of these nominees has made public comments or has taken positions indicating strong support for a shift in national policy regarding the culture of life. Whatever one thinks of the culture of life, dramatic shifts in policy on such important national questions should not happen without serious deliberation ... [now] without any debate or discussion, the Obama Administration is putting forward an absolute political zealot from two of the nation's most Leftist groups."

...

The letter concludes by asking that ample time be given to question the nominees "and demand serious answers so that the American people can continue to play a part in defining the cultural fabric of our nation."

Some of the signers of the letter include representatives of the Family Research Council, National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, Susan B. Anthony List, Life Issues Institute, Eagle Forum, Thomas More Society, American Values, Heartbeat International, Presbyterians Pro-Life, Culture of Life Foundation and Human Life Alliance.

Isn't it amazing how, only after they have lost control of the government, the Right has suddenly started caring about checks and balances and the need for "serious deliberation"? 

Purely coincidental, I am sure.

A Much More Subdued Right-Wing Declaration

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 7/9/2008 4:42 pm

Details continue to emerge about the meeting last week in Colorado where a large group right-wing leaders gathered and decided to back John McCain, with David Barton telling The Brody File that more than 90% in attendance agreed to support McCain primarily because they abhor Barack Obama and, as we noted yesterday, are really concerned about the future of the Supreme Court :

There were 83 state and national leaders in the room from all over the country. They included heavyweights Phyllis Schlafly, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Phil Burress, Mat Staver and representatives from Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association.

David Barton, President of the conservative WallBuilders group was there too. I spoke with him about the meeting and he tells me roughly 75 of the 83 were on board for McCain at the end of the meeting.  

…

They don't want Barack Obama picking Supreme Court judges. That's why the judges issue is very important to this group and they believe McCain will be there on judges. They plan to let their supporters know about it. The "base" may be mobilizing very soon.

Charisma Magazine also provide some inside details, such as the fact that Mike Huckabee’s daughter Sarah was reportedly in attendance and that McCain has apparently been meeting with militant anti-abortion activist Alveda King, which makes sense seeing as she’s been supporting him for months.   

But the culmination of the meeting was the agreement by those in attendance to sign on to something called the “Declaration of American Values” put together by Mat Staver and David Barton.  If this sounds familiar, it is probably because it is a lot like the Values Voters’ Contract With Congress that a similar group of right-wing activists unveiled heading into the 2006 election.  The primary difference between the two is that the new declaration has dropped the laundry list of legislation they wanted to see passed that made up the bulk of the Values Voters’ Contract in favor of vague language about the “sanctity of human life” and the importance of securing our “national sovereignty and domestic tranquility” … almost as if they don’t anticipate that their legislative agenda has any chance of moving forward in the next Congress:  

Checks, Balances, and Wiki

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 2/13/2008 4:02 pm

Phyllis Schlafly has been a towering figure on the Right for more than four decades: inspiring Barry Goldwater’s foot soldiers with “A Choice Not an Echo,” founding the Eagle Forum and leading the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment, and continuing to rail against supposedly “activist” judges standing in the way of her agenda.

“Liberals in this country know that they don’t have the hearts of the American people…so their game plan is to take their issues to the courts,” said Schlafly at the Conservative Political Action Conference, repeating a theme she’s been talking up for years. What was new this time was that she brought her son, Andy.

Andy Schlafly, general counsel for the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, may seem like an unlikely candidate to be a right-wing spokesman—even if, as his mother felt the need to say, he attended Harvard Law School. But the AAPS is hardly just a boring professional society; it’s a far-right splinter from the American Medical Association dedicated to opposing abortion and government-funded health care. And Andy Schlafly has already made a name for himself on the Internet, first as a defender of creationism on a USENET discussion group and then as an instructor of right-wing politics for Eagle Forum University.

But what really made Andy Schlafly an electronic celebrity was his quixotic fight against Wikipedia, the user-compiled online encyclopedia. Decrying Wikipedia’s “liberal bias,” Schlafly founded Conservapedia, which quickly became a laughingstock for its bizarre agenda and shoddy execution on subjects such as animal origins, homosexuality, and basic facts.

Mr. Schlafly believes that the judiciary, like Wikipedia, has a liberal bias. He called upon the CPAC crowd to pressure John McCain on the issue, to make “sure we’re not fooled by the next Supreme Court nominee.” McCain, of course, promised to nominate judges like Roberts and Alito, but “that’s not good enough,” according to Schlafly, who called on McCain to set up a right-wing panel to select candidates for the judiciary and get assurance on their far-right bona fides. “[We] don’t want judges who say it’s unconstitutional for a teacher to lead class in prayer,” said Schlafly—but most importantly, “[we’re] looking for the fifth vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Ultimately, Schlafly was pessimistic about the chances for more right-wing nominees in the next few years—but he had a plan: court-stripping. Merely by writing into legislation a clause taking away the court’s jurisdiction, Schlafly asserted, Congress can keep the federal courts (and Americans’ basic rights, apparently) “under its thumb.”

Schlafly said court-stripping would be “essential to the life issue,” complaining that judges have a habit of delaying the enforcement of newly passed abortion restrictions—ones that push the boundaries of reproductive law—while the legality of such laws is being considered. Schlafly encouraged lawmakers to include in such legislation a provision telling courts to take a hike.

When a child is misbehaving with a toy, Schlafly said, “You take the toy away from the child. When the court is abusing its authority, you take that authority away.”

Of course, the judicial branch is not a child, and Congress is not its parent. Simply editing checks and balances out of the picture—like Conservapedia’s creative rewrite of a “biased” democratic encyclopedia—does not actually change reality.

Conservative Group Calls for Gonzales Resignation

Submitted by Anonymous on Monday, 4/16/2007 11:59 pm
American Freedom Agenda (ACU’s Keene, Richard Viguerie, Bob Barr, Bruce Fein) cites checks and balances, rule of law. Meanwhile: US Attorney hires based on Federalist Society membership and GOP work.
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Checks and Balances Posts Archive

Liberty Counsel Entirely Serious About Impeaching Obama
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 04/04/2011, 10:15am
Last month, Liberty Counsel sent out an email calling for the impeachment of President Obama. Now, over the weekend, they sent out another email admitting that even though "Congress is unlikely to seriously look into the issue," they are entirely serious and will continue to demand that Obama be removed from office: [T]here is an unchecked arrogance, even a condescending, elitist mindset evident in the Obama White House. The President behaves as though he is somehow above the law! This Administration seems to believe that the Constitution is pliable and subject to political... MORE
Newt Gingrich's First Amendment Hypocrisy
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 07/22/2010, 10:19am
Wasn't it just the other day that I was writing about the Religious Right warning Christians that the Obama administration was out to destroy their "freedom of religion" by referring to it merely as "freedom of worship"?   So how do they justify this bigoted rant from Newt Gingrich arguing for the need to limit the religious rights of Muslims in America? There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us... MORE
Never Underestimate The Right's Capacity For Self-Aggrandizement
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 02/17/2010, 10:59am
You have to hand it to the Right because when they produce a manifesto, they go all out. When Religious Right signed on to the Manhattan Declaration a few months back, they hailed it as akin to standing up to the Nazis and declared themselves willing to suffer everything from exile to death to defend it, while comparing themselves to those who signed the Declaration of Independence. Today, right-wing leaders are gathering to sign The Mount Vernon Statement, which they claim will "define the conservative movement’s principles and objectives," and they are literally going to... MORE
When The Going Gets Tough, The Right Starts A New Group
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 06/30/2009, 3:06pm
Despite all of the predictions that the Religious Right was on its deathbed, they sure do seem to be extremely active of late. Of course, they don't seem to have any new ideas or desire to change their agenda in any way, but in last few months have seen a flurry of new groups popping up designed to fill some unseen void that has been apparently responsible for their current predicament.In the last few months we seen the arrival of the Faith and Freedom Institute, which was followed by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, while Newt Gingrich was unveiling his Renewing American Leadership... MORE
The Time Has Come to Panic
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 05/14/2009, 5:34pm
I've written several posts recently debunking the claim that the James Dobson and, by extension, the Religious Right are about to throw in the towel. While the Republicans are out of power at the moment and the Religious Right is growing fearful that it is being marginalized as the GOP seeks to regain its footing, that didn't mean they had any intention of giving up the fight.  As Dobson put it recently, "we're not going anywhere."And they aren't, but it looks like the Right's irrelevance at the moment is starting to absolutely terrify its leadership. That's because, as Dan... MORE
The Right Tests Its Strength in Targeting DOJ Nominees
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 02/05/2009, 12:02pm
Earlier this week, we noted how, after eight years of claiming that the Senate's role was to rubber stamp the President's nominees, a gaggle of Religious Right activists had suddenly discovered the importance of checks and balances and the chance to provide an opportunity for "serious deliberation" on potential appointees ... mainly because they didn't like some of President Obama's choices to serve in the Justice Department.A lot of this initial opposition was driven by the right-wing Catholic group Fidelis, which has been targeting David Ogden with press releases and reports... MORE
How Quickly Things Change
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 02/03/2009, 4:03pm
Once upon a time, it was an article of faith among right-wing groups that the President was entitled to deference regarding his choices to fill the various governmental positions, especially the cabinet and sub-cabinet positions, and it was the Senate's role merely to confirm or reject these nominees. Of course, that time just happened to coincide with President Bush's time in office ... and now that it has passed, so too apparently has that standard:Thirty pro-life leaders and representatives of pro-life groups representing millions of Americans have authored a letter to Senate leaders... MORE