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Franklin Sun Features AJA

Article From the Franklin Sun:

Appealing to a Higher Court

Retired Judge Brings Bibles to the Bench

By Tom Bonnette,  The Franklin Sun, May 12th, 2010, Page 7A

Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Rudy Mclntyre (left) holds a copy of the Harlan Bible presented to him by retired Baton Rouge City Judge Darrell White. Also pictured is Jason Stern, vice president of the American Judicial Alliance. (Sun photo by Tom Bonnette)

The Bible is a fundamental building block of our nation’s legal system and retired Baton Rouge City Judge Darrell White wants to make sure that isn’t forgotten. White, who is on a quest to place “Harlan Bibles” in every courtroom in the country, is founder of the American Judicial Alliance, a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to “awaken the conscience of one nation under God” by recapturing the vitality of America’s organic laws – the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He was in Franklin Parish Friday at the Winnsboro Rotary Club’s monthly luncheon at Brown’s Landing to ask for prayers and support.

“We are asking people like you, who think that this is important, to help us to put one of these Bibles in every single courtroom in America,” White said. The Bible is a replica of the Bible donated by to the U.S. Supreme Court by Justice John Marshall Harlan in 1906. The original Harlan Bible is kept by the Supreme Court Curator and holds the signatures of every U.S. Supreme Court Justice since 1906 when it was donated. Judges have been invited to sign the inside leaflets of the more than 100 Bibles donated by the Retired Judges of America that White has helped place in courtrooms over the last few years.

He believes the Bibles will serve as a reminder that we are “one nation under God” and that the U.S. Constitution should be the guiding factor in our judicial system.  “It’s the supreme law of the land. Unless we pay attention to it, it’s just so many words,” White said. “The question is whether or not we are going to follow the Constitution and adhere to it.”

A Harlan Bible donated to the Fifth Judicial District Court by the RJA a year ago that is signed by Judge E. Rudolph Mclntyre and Judge Terry A. Doughty was on display at the luncheon.  To help White place similar Bibles in other courtrooms, the Winnsboro Rotary Club donated $150.  More is needed, said Jason Stern, vice president of AJA.  “Every little bit that we can gather together helps us make a difference in bringing back our nation to the nation of our founders for the next generation,” Stern said.  Justice Harlan is best remembered as the lone dissenting voice in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, in which a Louisiana statue that called for “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” was upheld as constitutional. To help the RJA and AJA donate Bibles, call (225) 603-2544.

Church and State Discussed in the New York Times Magazine

Russell Shorto writes a balanced piece on the place of faith in the Founders’ plans for America and how the fight over whether that is true is being fought in Texas today.  Here’s an excerpt:

If the fight between the “Christian nation” advocates and mainstream thinkers could be focused onto a single element, it would be the “wall of separation” phrase. Christian thinkers like to point out that it does not appear in the Constitution, nor in any other legal document — letters that presidents write to their supporters are not legal decrees. Besides which, after the phrase left Jefferson’s pen it more or less disappeared for a century and a half — until Justice Hugo Black of the Supreme Court dug it out of history’s dustbin in 1947. It then slowly worked its way into the American lexicon and American life, helping to subtly mold the way we think about religion in society. To conservative Christians, there is no separation of church and state, and there never was. The concept, they say, is a modern secular fiction. There is no legal justification, therefore, for disallowing crucifixes in government buildings or school prayer.

Read the full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html?pagewanted=all

The Pursuit of Happiness

Via Voddie Baucham Ministries:

Ever wonder what the phrase the “Pursuit of Happiness” meant in the U.S. Constitution? Well here’s a hint from the Massachusetts Constitution. Remember, John and Samual Adams were two of the three framers. Hence, what they did in Massachusetts in 1780 gives us real insight into what the framers meant in 1776:

“Art. III. As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of the public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, To … See Morepromote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.”

Religious Freedom in the New Millennia?

This is an interesting synopsis from Ray Comfort’s Blog today.  The federal courts have played a strong role in shaping American culture in the 20th century via its decisions:

“There was a time in U.S. history when American school children began each day with public prayer. The entire class prayed together. That is now “illegal.” This is why:

• The Supreme Court first ruled against public school prayer in the 1962 case of Engle v. Vitale. The decision struck down a New York State law that required public schools to begin the school day either with Bible reading or recitation of a specially-written, nondenominational prayer.

• One year later, in Abington vs. Shempp (1963), the Supreme Court struck down voluntary Bible readings and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.

1. In this context, our kids can no longer pray in public. There have been many ensuing court cases over the liberty to engage in public prayer:

“U.S. Supreme Court rules, 6-3, that prayer before football games in Texas is unconstitutional,”
https://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=12727

“School Faces Big Legal Fees In Prayer Lawsuit.”
https://paganwiccan.about.com/b/2009/06/23/school-faces-big-legal-fees-in-prayer-lawsuit.htm

“Florida school officials in prayer case could get jail time.”
https://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/17/florida.school.prayer/index.html?iref=newssearch

“School district faces second lawsuit over prayer”
https://www.srpressgazette.com/articles/school-9300-district-second.html

2. There have been multiple court cases against students who have or open Bibles:

“Lawsuit claims students not allowed to carry Bibles” https://www.adherents.com/misc/school_houston.html

“Bible study banned on playgrounds”
https://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44223

“Gideons Forbidden From Distributing Bibles at School”
https://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2007/08/gideons_forbidd.html

“Bibles Banned in Bible Belt”
https://www.foxnewsradio.com/2010/01/06/bibles-banned-in-bible-belt/#ixzz0de1D4mmO

“Bible Banned From School Football Field”
https://news.aol.com/article/bible-verses-banned-from-lakeview-fort/700655

“High School Cheerleaders Banned From Using Bible Verses”
https://digg.com/world_news/High_School_Cheerleaders_Banned_From_Using_Bible_Verses

“The Bible Banned at a New Jersey School” https://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bible-banned-at-a-new

“Bibles banned at Stigler Oklahoma library”
https://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=635514

3. Display the Ten Commandments in a public place, and you could end up in court.

“U.S. Government bans Ten Commandments from Public Places”
https://theratzingerforum.yuku.com/topic/1011/t/U-S-Government-bans-Ten-Commandments-from-Public-Places.html

“Ten Commandments monument moved. New poll says Americans disapprove of federal court order.”
https://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/27/ten.commandments/

“Ninth Circuit Sued For Displaying Ten Commandments”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102×1222468

“Chief Justice Roy Moore removed for acknowledging God–Ten Commandments Inquisition” (link no longer accessible)

American Judicial Alliance is asking judges to return to their Oaths to protect and defend the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land.

Powers of the American People

amjusticeThis exerpt from “Powers of the American people, Congress, President, and courts: (according to the evolution of constitutional construction)” by Masuji Miyakawa,  was published in 1908 by the Baker & Taylor co. (pp. 346-349)  Mr. Miyakawa grasped in 1908 the same essense of what America needs today. [Bonus: Look for Justice Harlan to show up after the jump!]

“Strange to say, the American judges, ever since the organization of the Government, have been the least criticised and least arraigned public officers. On the contrary they have been the most respected and most honored among all the dignitaries of America.  We may attribute this strange phenomenon to the fact that the only thing which the American will obey is law and the only thing in which he will know the meaning of obedience is his relation to law.  The judges of the United States and of the several States are thoroughly conscious of their exceptional privileges and immunities; also of their correspondingly great responsibilities as the only interpreters of the law, to whom alone the final construction of the law of the land is unreservedly entrusted.

All the American judges realize this. The American people know that the strictest obedience to law is the foundation stone of the strength and permanence of the republic.  This has been understood by the American people ever since they founded their country.  Departure from this common understanding tends to involve national ruin by creating anarchy.  Superficial observers who see but the so called material side of American progress, or those who are devotees of the game of profit, do wrong when they do not appreciate the fundamental proposition that the people are the backbone of progress.

Such superficiality not only fails to grasp the true situation, but also fails to appreciate the true meaning of the beneficent opportunity upon which the Americans build their higher and nobler civilization.  The statements recently made that the American people have changed their allegiance from the great principles which they embodied in the Declaration of Independence to the worship of the almighty dollar, and that the American people have changed from their appreciation of the Bible to the worship of the sword are evidence of the fact that their authors are but shallow students of the America of to day.  

To illustrate the fallacy of such statements:   Continue reading

In the Interest of Justice

Writes In the Interest of Justice:

There is only one word for Tueday night’s keynote Speaker.  That would be “Wow.”  His Honor Retired Judge White was both a delight and enlightening at the same time.  His portion of the evening lasted about 1 and 1/2 hours but seemed like 20 minutes.  Sit back with a great cup of coffee and watch the entire video here.  Judge Darrell White is an asset that needs to be exploited and duplicated. 

Alito Opines on the ABA

“The ABA is a venerable organization with a history of service to the bar, but it is, after all, a private group with limited membership. The views of the association’s members, not to mention the views of the members of the advisory committee that formulated the 2003 Guidelines, do not necessarily reflect the views of the American bar as a whole. It is the responsibility of the courts to determine the nature of the work that a defense attorney must do in a capital case in order to meet the obligations imposed by the Constitution, and I see no reason why the ABA Guidelines should be given a privileged position in making that determination.”   – Justice Samuel Alito

Barack Obama and Potter Stewart

Barack Obama concluded his 9/8/09 speech to a captive audience of America’s government school-educated children with this sign-off: “Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.” (emphasis added) If Obama – in his official governmental capacity – can compel the attention of America’s public schools for an affirmation of God’s blessings, shouldn’t we follow his example? Henceforth, God-fearing public school teachers might start their school days with a reminder – verbatim from Obama’s lips – to their students:

“Get serious this year. Put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.”

potter_stewart

Justice Potter Stewart

Actually, this language is not unlike the New York Board of Regents’ prayer that was nullified in the extraordinary 1962 case of Engle v. Vitale: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country.” Earl Warren’s supreme Court, in derogation of the free exercise clause those justices were sworn to uphold, nullified that prayer. In that case, Potter Stewart (1915-1985), the only justice with prior judicial experience before taking his position on the U.S. supreme Court, filed this dissent:

“A local school board in New York has provided that those pupils who wish to do so may join in a brief prayer at the beginning of each school day, acknowledging their dependence upon God and asking His blessing upon them and upon their parents, their teachers, and their country. The Court today decides that in permitting this brief nondenominational prayer the school board has violated the Constitution of the United States. I think this decision is wrong.

“The Court does not hold, nor could it, that New York has interfered with the free exercise of anybody’s religion. For the state courts have made clear that those who object to reciting the prayer must be entirely free of any compulsion to do so, including any ’embarrassments and pressures.’ But the Court says that in permitting school children to say this simple prayer, the New York authorities have established ‘an official religion.’

“With all respect, I think the Court has misapplied a great constitutional principle. Continue reading

New Courts Added in Houston

Houston,Texas — Retired Judges of America (RJA) dedicated Court Presentation Bibles to six Harris County area trial Houston Judges Receive Biblescourts while attending and speaking at the Houston Christian Legal Society’s meeting today. Receiving Bibles were judges representing the Harris County Criminal Court at Law Number 14, the 174th Criminal District Court, the 189th, 269th, and 333rd Civil District Courts, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.  These judges are setting a worthy example for their judicial colleagues through acceptance of these commemorative court presentation Bibles,” said RJA’s Founder and President, Darrell White, a retired city judge and former military judge for the Louisiana National Guard. Continue reading

When did Colorado Become Congress?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

ericacordon

Erica Corder

Erica Corder, a courageous Colorado high school valedictorian has become one of the latest victims of unconstitutional political correctness.  Her 2006 reference to Jesus Christ during a 30-second statement at her graduation service prompted her principal to require her to sign a apology as a prerequisite to receiving her diploma. 

Here’s what Erica said: “We are all capable of standing firm and expressing our own beliefs, which is why I need to tell you about someone who loves you more than you could ever imagine. He died for you on a cross over 2,000 years ago, yet was resurrected and is living today in heaven. His name is Jesus Christ. If you don’t already know him personally I encourage you to find out more about the sacrifice he made for you so that you now have the opportunity to live in eternity with him.”

Her forced apology was designed to appease the interests of those who might claim to take offense at the mention of Jesus Christ.  What an irony that reference to Christ is embedded in the very Constitution Erica is accused of violating:  

Article VII concludes that the document was executed in the year of “our Lord” [September 17, 1787] and makes further reference to the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s birth certificate, that contains no less than four references to God! Continue reading