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Should Supreme Court Justices Be Religious?

rhinefire

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Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?
 
The answer is NO!
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?

There are no "religious tests" for government service. The First Amendment protects religious freedom. There have been eight Jewish Justices on SCOTUS, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There have been 14 Catholics, and the rest have been Protestant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Hardly surprising since the USA has been majority Christian, and still is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Whether or not it "impacts people of other faiths" is going to be a matter of opinion. I personally could care less, as long as whomever is appointed holds to a strict constructionist view of Constitutional interpretation.
 
There are no "religious tests" for government service. The First Amendment protects religious freedom. There have been eight Jewish Justices on SCOTUS, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There have been 14 Catholics, and the rest have been Protestant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Hardly surprising since the USA has been majority Christian, and still is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Whether or not it "impacts people of other faiths" is going to be a matter of opinion. I personally could care less, as long as whomever is appointed holds to a strict constructionist view of Constitutional interpretation.

Senators can use whatever reason they want to vote against a candidate.
 
They are there to interpret the law, not make it. People are capable of separating their faith from their work....it's done every day.

If they were creating laws and such, I would have think differently. Everyone has beliefs, whether religious or not, and many manage to keep it separate.
 
Senators can use whatever reason they want to vote against a candidate.

And? I stated a simple fact. There are no religious tests for government service.

What's that got to do with how Senator's personally vote? Free expression is also "still a thing" too. 🤷‍♂️
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?

RBG was religious. She managed just fine to keep it real.
 
Senators can use whatever reason they want to vote against a candidate.
It seems odd that no Democrat-Socialist Senator considers competence when casting their vote on this.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths?
It shouldn't since judges should be ruling based on the law. Clearly some might be influenced by their personal beliefs but that can apply to anyone, not just the religious. That's probably part of the reason they have multiple judges and operate on the basis of majority decisions with narrative rulings explaining the legal basis for their conclusions. It's not a perfect system but nothing involving human beings ever is.
 
Religion is of course a private matter, so in that sense they can be as religious as they want. What they can't do is putting their religion above the law. Their duties are towards the laws of men, not the laws of God.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?

Every single one of the current justices is religious. Episcopalian, Catholic and Jewish.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?
They can be as religious as they want, but must separate that religious sense from their legal analysis which are wholly two different topics, otherwise they are incapable of truly doing their job.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?
Can you provide any evidence that any religious Supreme Court Justice has ever ruled based on their religion?

Can you provide any evidence that ACB (let's be honest here...that's why you are asking your question) has ever ruled based on her religion?

If the answer to my two questions is no...then this thread is dismissed.
 
Where would an atheist get moral values from, if not from religion?
 
"Should Supreme Court Justices be religious?"

I think a better question is: "Should a Supreme Court justice" allow his/her religious beliefs, if he/she is religious, to influence the way he/she votes on a USSC case?" My answer to that is NO.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?

The abortion argument is faux-religious because there's really very little religious justification for it. That said, people of conservative-based religious faith want to force others to obey their ideological beliefs. Unlike liberals and progressives, who may despise conservative beliefs, but don't care as long as it doesn't impact them.

Conservatives: Live and think like we do or else.

Progressives: Live and let live.
 
Where would an atheist get moral values from, if not from religion?

Good parenting, evolved human empathy, learned ethical experience.

If you need a book to tell you how to be moral, your morals aren't worth the paper they're printed on and I'd never trust you to make the right decision.
 
There are no "religious tests" for government service. The First Amendment protects religious freedom. There have been eight Jewish Justices on SCOTUS, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There have been 14 Catholics, and the rest have been Protestant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Hardly surprising since the USA has been majority Christian, and still is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Whether or not it "impacts people of other faiths" is going to be a matter of opinion. I personally could care less, as long as whomever is appointed holds to a strict constructionist view of Constitutional interpretation.
The problem I have with strict constructionists and originalists is they have their own opinion on what that means when it comes to the constitution. I have often read opinions by cons and even lib judges that say that their decision is based on one of those two ideas and yet when you read the writings of the actual authors of the constitution the opinions do not match up. In the end, most of the decisions are made according to the justices political sway, whether con or lib.
 
Now there is a nominee that is very religious in a Christian faith. Does that impact people of other faiths? According to our constitution this seems to contradict the concept of freedom to worship or not. Since the duty of the Supreme Court is to address rule of law. How can that be if there is a members with strong religious convictions? What if all nine were atheists? Is the abortion argument largely religious?
Everything is a religion. Atheism is a religion that doesn't believe in God. It would be disgusting that in a country founded on religious freedom that a Supreme Court Justice would be required to not be religious. If I remember correctly, the founders who founded the country based on religious freedom, also founded the Supreme court.
 
Good parenting, evolved human empathy, learned ethical experience.
So, from religion but once removed. This is not helping your position.

If you need a book to tell you how to be moral, your morals aren't worth the paper they're printed on and I'd never trust you to make the right decision.
You just said learned ethical experience and you cavalierly discard all of philosophy, not to mention law. o_O

Examples can be living but they can also be recorded.
 
There are no "religious tests" for government service. The First Amendment protects religious freedom. There have been eight Jewish Justices on SCOTUS, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There have been 14 Catholics, and the rest have been Protestant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Hardly surprising since the USA has been majority Christian, and still is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Whether or not it "impacts people of other faiths" is going to be a matter of opinion. I personally could care less, as long as whomever is appointed holds to a strict constructionist view of Constitutional interpretation.

I am looking forward to the first muslim-american SC nominee. I know the GOP will respect this belief in law and rhetoric.
 
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