Graduation Season
Constitutionally speaking (i.e., in terms of the free speech clause) why should it matter to courts whether God’s last name is “Almighty” or “Damn”? Graduation season is upon us, and that predictably brings out groups who threaten valedictorians and their handlers with expensive lawsuits should anyone dare to give thanks to God on these memorable occasions. All the while, these same groups defend the “free speech” rights of those who would blaspheme our Creator in public.
Recent polling suggests that over 75% of Americans believe our courts have gone too far in restricting free exercise of religion; 76% support public displays of Ten Commandments; and 90% support keeping “one nation under God” in our Pledge. At the same time, Pew Research Center polling data shows that the stature of America’s judiciary has plummeted. In 1997, 78% said they had a high opinion of the Court. In 2001, it was 61%. More recently, it was 57%.
“We Just Work Here” Judicial Interpretivism
Over 1.5 million Hoosiers with “In God We Trust” license plates are no doubt gratified that they can hold onto their license tags. A state judge has dismissed litigation brought by the ACLU alleging that it was unconstitutional to put America’s National Motto on state license plates. Marion Superior Court Judge Gary Miller’s refreshing opinion should help restore confidence in America’s judiciary. He wrote, “Courts are not to second-guess the Indiana General Assembly when it comes to calculations of this sort.” In part, the ACLU had claimed that Indiana was giving the motto “preferential treatment” and should charge the vanity plate fee for the “In God We Trust” message since it isn’t the standard state plate. However, the legislation authorizing the plate in 2006 specifically directed the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to offer the plate for free. Thank you Judge Miller for reminding all judges that “we just work here” when it comes to interpreting the laws and Constitution.
It’s still the National Motto – not the National Anachronism.
Celebrate Law Day with Retired Judges of America!
It was in 1906 that America’s 45th Supreme Court Justice – John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911) – donated a Bible to the Supreme Court of the United States, and its flyleaf pages have been signed by every justice without fail since that date. Retired Judges of America (RJA) has begun replicating that venerable tradition by donating signatory presentation Bibles to courts throughout our nation. Each of the Bibles dedicated by RJA contain the gold-imprinted date on the cover of May 1st.
Why is that? Because since 1958, May 1st has been set aside as “Law Day” – a special day of celebration by Americans to appreciate our liberties and reaffirm our loyalty to the United States. By statute (36 U.S. Code Section 113), it is set aside to cultivate respect for law.
On May 1st of 2008, America will celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Law Day” with the following theme: The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity.
What better way to celebrate Law Day this year than to give your local court a presentation Bible so that its judges now and in perpetuity may 
have a tangible reminder that, as Justice Story wrote in 1833 (the same year Harlan was born) that: “I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
‘Harlan’ Bibles to create new tradition in local courts
By Tom Bonnette
tbonnette@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6340
PINEVILLE — Local judges Tuesday signed their “John Hancocks” at a Pineville Kiwanis Club meeting in replicas of the Bible that holds the signature of every U.S. Supreme Court Justice since 1906 to start a new tradition in local courts.
Judges who received “Harlan Bibles” for their courts said they will follow the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court by inviting all judges who serve to 
sign their names in the inside leaflets of the same Bible. The four Bibles, copies of the Harlan Bible held by the U.S. Supreme Court Curator, is similar to the Bible donated to the U.S. Supreme Court by Justice John Marshall Harlan in 1906. That bible has been signed by justices joining the Supreme Court for more than 100 years.
The Bibles were donated by Retired Judges of America and presented by retired Baton Rouge City Judge Darrell White. White said he has presented 20 to 30 similar Bibles on behalf of RJA since the organization began a campaign last year to distribute them.
The campaign, White said, is designed to encourage judges to hold fast to principles inherit in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Davy Crockett On Congressional “Earmarks”
One day in the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Congressman Davy Crockett arose to object.
“Harlan Bible” Day – March 12 (1906)
It was on this date – March 12th – in 1906 that then-senior Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911) donated a 
Bible to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) for the purpose of offering his colleagues an opportunity to sign the Good Book’s flyleaf pages. Down through the years, the “Harlan Bible” – maintained by the Supreme Court’s Curator – has been presented to each justice shortly after taking the oath of office and all have elected to sign. Justice Samuel Alito, the latest signatory, has acknowledged what an awesome experience it was for him to sign alongside every justice without fail for over 100 years. For those who would say that the Bible is irrelevant to America, I would ask, can you imagine any other book or writing that would evoke such unanimous approbation?
Retired Judges of America is replicating this venerable tradition in other courts throughout America. If you would like to help with the expenses associated with this noble undertaking, go to the donation page and become a friend of Retired Judges of America. After all, there are no innocent bystanders; only those guilty of bystanding!
Citizens “Indignant” at California Judge’s Ruling
A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution. The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.”At first, there was a sense of, ‘No way,’ ” said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. “Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.”
One of the purposes of Retired Judges of America is to call into question the rulings of courts that violate the principles of the American Experiment. This case is a clear example of judicial tyranny over civil liberty. Parental choice in education strikes at the heart of the American pioneering spirit. The argument could be made that educational choices that families make are guaranteed by the birth certificate of our nation, the Declaration of Independence and that home educating one’s students is both a God-given right to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness*.
RJA’s mission is to illuminate how these “organic” foundational laws of our nation still apply and to promulgate them to the next generation.
Dissenting in Moore v. City of East Cleveland, Justice Byron White wrote, “The Judiciary, including this Court, is the most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or even the design of the Constitution.”
We, the Retired Judges of America, condemn this act of judicial activism and call on the California Supreme Court to overturn the Appellate Court’s ruling.
*In 1920 the Supreme Court asserted that parent’s rights to raise and educate their children was a “fundamental” type of “liberty” protected by the Due Process Clause. See generally, Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535 (1925). This liberty includes the “right to the care, custody, management and companionship of [his or her] minor children” which is an interest “far more precious than property rights” May v. Anderson, 345 US 528, 533 (1952).
Judge-Made Law?
A California appellate court has ruled that parents without teaching credentials do not have a right to home-school their children.
Ironically, it was exactly fifty years ago this August that the chief justices of ten states joined together to issue a report critical of our federal judicial system with the following language: “It has long been an American boast that we have a government of laws and not of men.” That document, entitled “REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL STATE RELATIONSHIPS AS AFFECTED BY JUDICIAL DECISIONS” went on to complain that “… the Supreme Court too often has tended to adopt the role of policy-maker without proper judicial restraint.”
Gaining steam, they went on, “We do not believe that either the framers of the original Constitution or the possibly somewhat less gifted draftsmen of the Fourteenth Amendment ever contemplated that the Supreme Court would, or should, have the almost unlimited policy-making powers it now exercises. It is strange, indeed, to reflect that under a constitution which provides for a system of checks and balances and of distribution of power between national and state governments one branch of one government – the Supreme Court – should attain the immense, and in many respects, dominant, power which it now wields.”
Learn the Constitution!
A wonderful opportunity to learn why America is great
Americans who wish to accurately analyze current issues in the light of the Constitution – our “supreme law of the land” – now have a splendid opportunity just a click away. The National Center for Constitutional Studies (www.nccs.net) in cooperation with Heritage Academy, a public, charter high school in Mesa, Arizona, has put a semester-long study course on The 5000 Year Leap online for the whole world to study. Any student who completes the course will be given a transcript showing one-half credit from Heritage Academy. This school is accredited by North Central Association and Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.
This course contains 27 lessons covering the 28 Principles of Liberty in great detail. Each lesson contains the elements as in the example below. The video instruction contains PowerPoint notes to help the student master the important points of instruction.
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Reading assignment – Principle 1 -
Study questions to answer – Principle 1 -
Video instruction, Principle 1 (30 minutes) -
Quiz – Principle 1, Natural Law -
Find a current issue
The study questions, and current issue assignments are uploaded to the instructor for grading. The quizzes and two examinations are computer graded. A running grade of all assignments keeps the student aware of his progress through the course.
In order to further test this online course, Heritage is offering the opportunity for several students to enroll in the course, complete the assignments, and receive an accredited transcript for only the purchase of the textbook, The 5000 Year Leap. If a student already has the textbook, there will be no charge for the course during this test period. Heritage invites those who would like to participate on this basis to login to the website www.halearn.com to begin and, if necessary, to communicate with Earl Taylor at his email address, etaylor@mstar.net.
Kudos to Earl Taylor for this valuable contribution to the constitutional literacy of Americans!
Internet First Amendment Rights Challenged
In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco
on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information.
The site, Wikileaks.org, invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging “unethical behavior” by
corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing.