Rob Sherman News
The hot social and political issues of the day

Serious Journalism, Professionally Written

         
Click on either picture for larger image

         March 23, 2010        

3 Reagan appointees with ties to Notre Dame
hear "Moment of Silence" appeal

The fate of the constitutional rights of atheist girl Dawn Sherman, who wants to spend her time in school studying rather than sitting around watching the Christian kids praying, is now in the hands of three judges from the most conservative, pro-religion President and the most conservative, pro-religion Roman Catholic university in the country.  It's like asking three commentators from Fox News for a fair and impartial opinion on Barack Obama's health care bill.  What would you expect them to say?

The first judge is Daniel Manion, who was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by Ronald Reagan in 1986.  Manion made his mark in politics as a State Senator, when he sponsored legislation to put the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in Indiana.  Judge Manning is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, whose Mission Statement says, among other things, "The University encourages a way of living consonant with a Christian community and manifest in prayer, liturgy and service."  What do you think the chances are of this guy siding with an atheist on any issue?

The next judge is Ann Williams.  She graduated from the law school of the University of Notre Dame in 1975.  Judge Williams was appointed to be a federal judge by Reagan in 1985.  Clinton appointed her to the Appellate Court in 1999.

The third judge is Kenneth Ripple.  Judge Ripple was appointed to the Appellate Court by Reagan in 1985.  For the past 33 years, Judge Ripple has been a professor at the Law School of the University of Norte Dame.

We know, from their Mission Statement, how the people of Notre Dame feel about prayer.  Having three judges from Notre Dame decide on whether the government should be allowed to force an atheist to waste class time watching the Christian kids pray every day completely lacks any credibility at all.  They have the power to decide, but they don't have the power to attach any credibility to that decision.

It's important to remember that the Judicial Branch of government is the most political branch of government.  It wasn't supposed to be that way.  The original reason that judges were given life tenure was to ensure that judges would not be compelled to make decisions based on politics.  Reagan discovered that the converse was also true.  Life tenure, under Reagan, Bush and Bush, has been corrupted to ensure that radical conservative extremist judges cannot be prevented from making decisions based on politics.  This corruption of the federal courts, from top to bottom, has left the country with a court system that is widely regarded as a House of Fraud, with zero credibility, from the Supreme Court on down.

At some point, the Seventh Circuit will rule on the Moment of Silence appeal, but we all know what they are going to say, because the 7th Circuit has been packed with conservative zealots who were appointed because they could be depended upon to put right-wing politics ahead of the facts, the constitution and the law.  Their decision in the "Moment of Silence" case, however, won't change anybody's mind about the indisputable fact that the Student Prayer Act is unconstitutional.

Your voluntary subscription to Rob Sherman News is appreciated to help offset the substantial cost of my work.  Thanks, in advance, for your participation in this manner.

Help support my work by purchasing a Rob Sherman News Mini-Crank Flashlight for $20.  It never needs batteries.  You just wind it up a few times and it works.  Remember, you're not paying twenty bucks just for a flashlight.  You are helping me to shine a light on unconstitutional government policies and other catastrophically bad ideas by government and the private sector.  That's the value of what you are purchasing.  Besides, there aren't that many of them, so you might be able to make a lot of money selling this rare collector's item in a few years.

Please tell your friends about this through your social media networks and word of mouth.

E-mail comments about my stories to me at rob@robsherman.com to let me know what you think.  Send personal comments, comments unrelated to this story or notification of typos that you see in any of my posts to the same e-mail address.

Thanks for visiting Rob Sherman News.