As president, one of Barack Obama’s most important tasks is making appointments to the federal courts.

The Senate has a role to play too. They are to “advise and consent.” If a judicial appointee is deemed unqualified, a majority of the Senate can vote him or her down.

Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Senate […] Read More

As it turns out, we didn’t have to wait too long for a question assessing Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s thoughts on religious liberty.

Yesterday afternoon, as the Senate confirmation hearings continued, Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) asked Sotomayor her views on freedom of religion, which he called “one of the basic principles of our Constitution.”

Cardin brought up one of Supreme […] Read More

Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter’s decision to retire and return to his farm in New Hampshire has really got the Religious Right’s knickers in knots – but also has given movement leaders an opportunity.

President Barack Obama is expected to name Souter’s replacement soon, and chances are the Religious Right isn’t going to like that person’s record.

What to […] Read More

It’s possible “Tonight Show” Host Jay Leno already has conclusive results on this, but for today’s purposes, I’m just going to make a wild assumption.

I’m going to assume that if I stopped the average American on the street and asked him or her to name all the U.S. Supreme Court justices, most would probably have no clue.

In […] Read More

I was shocked and saddened to open my Washington Post this morning and read about Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter’s plan to retire. The high court is about to lose one of its strongest defenders of the church-state wall.

When President George H.W. Bush nominated Souter in July of 1990 to replace William J. Brennan Jr., Americans United […] Read More

I guess it’s a little impertinent for me to issue a report card for President Barack Obama on his performance during his first 100 days in office. I’m not his teacher, and he’s not my student.

But what the heck? It’s a free country and everyone else is doing it. So here goes.

I’m focusing on issues with church-state implications. […] Read More

U.S. District Judge David Hamilton has been nominated by President Barack Obama to a seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and will face the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The Religious Right smear machine is operating on full power.

According to March 17 e-mail alert from Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Hamilton is guilty of […] Read More

Does the Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty need updating?

As many of you probably know, the Virginia Statute, approved by the state legislature in 1786, ended the Anglican Established Church and guaranteed broad freedom of religion in the commonwealth for the first time.

In ringing language written by Thomas Jefferson, the Statute proclaimed that “no man shall be compelled […] Read More

It’s Halloween, so I’m going to scare the bejeezus out of you.

* Judge William Pryor, U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. A former Alabama attorney general, Pryor went to court to defend notorious Chief Justice Roy Moore’s 2.5-ton Commandments monument in the state judicial building, telling a rally that God had chosen Christians “to save our country and save […] Read More

No one should make the mistake of assuming that President George W. Bush considers himself a lame duck. In fact, Bush is as busy as ever trying to put his cramped view of church-state separation into practice in as many places as possible.

That includes the federal judiciary. Bush has nominated Richard Honaker, a former member of the Wyoming House […] Read More