The confirmation hearings for Judge Kavanaugh made me wonder how we got to such a bitter fight over the appointment of a Supreme Court justice. As with many things, its roots are in the past. Most experts suggest it all started with the realization of conservatives they were losing opinions they considered important in the Supreme Court. They made sure appointments to the lower federal courts were made with judges with conservative philosophies. This provided a ready source of judges with the conservative philosophy. The conservatives have done an excellent job and that is how we arrived at the fight about the appointment of Judge Kavanaugh.
Conservatives in any political system represent only a fraction of all the people as do all parties. When the conservatives realized they were losing important opinions to them in the Supreme Court, they knew they needed allies. They found a good number of allies when the Roe versus Wade ruling on abortion was handed down. There is a percentage of Christian churches who because of a fundamental belief feel abortion is wrong. Before the Roe versus Wade ruling, abortion was at best a minor concern among most conservatives. Recognizing they could capitalize on this ruling, they adopted an antiabortion policy. They knew the people with this religious belief would care less about their other policies as long as they maintained a strong antiabortion stand. It would give them a rather freehand in other areas.
That’s the history behind the bitter fight over an appointment of a Supreme Court justice. Because the fight is tinged with religious belief, there is a danger. The founders of our country knew that because they had seen the dangers of mixing religion with politics back in Europe, therefore they put the anti-establishment clause into the Constitution. We should heed their wisdom today.
