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10th Circuit Trumps the Ten Commandments

We already know the courts treat our Constitution as unconstitutional. Laws pertaining to our history, traditions, founding values, national sovereignty, marriage, and immigration are all unconstitutional. And the ideals that are authentically unconstitutional … well … they are enshrined into the highest levels of the Constitution.

In case you thought this sentiment is unique to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, think again. It is the majority view in most circuits.

Here is example #30,000,000 why the lower courts are irremediably broken — with every Democrat appointee and half the GOP appointees signing onto some of the most radical views imaginable.

Last November, we reported that a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit forced the city of Bloomfield, New Mexico to uproot its monument of the Ten Commandments from the grounds of its city hall. In one of the most absurd displays of judicial supremacy, the court gave standing to random citizens to sue against an inanimate object that creates absolutely no redressable grievance of an injury in fact.

In addition, the court flipped the Establishment Clause on its head. The judges of the district and circuit courts — including GOP appointees — took a clause designed to protect states from the federal government mandating adoption of a particular religion and bastardized its interpretation to mean the eradication of all religious symbols from a local government in ISIS-like fashion.

Last week, the full en banc panel of the 10th Circuit refused to hear an appeal, thus allowing the unconstitutional power grab to stand. The court rejected the request for a full-panel review by a vote of 8-2. Neil Gorsuch, current nominee for Supreme Court, did not participate in the vote. Once again, every Democrat appointee signed onto this craziness, and only two of the four GOP-appointed judges would have reheard the case. This is another demonstration of why the lower courts are irremediably broken.

The two dissenting judges, Timothy Tymkovich and Paul Kelly, issued a scholarly rebuke of their colleagues and schooled them on the true origins and meaning of the Establishment Clause. As Judge Tymkovich points out, “The Establishment Clause was about keeping the national government from exercising power over churches,” not the other way around, and certainly not to eradicate religious expression from the public square:

This distinction between religion generally and the church specifically also makes sense in light of the historical practices of the First Congress. On the same day the House of Representatives voted to “make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” it then proposed a resolution requesting President George Washington to set aside a “day of public humiliation and prayer” in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.

This took place on September 25, 1789. President Washington issued the proclamation on October 3 to be observed on November 26 that same year. What was the nature of this public day of prayer? To beseech God “to pardon our national and other transgressions” and “to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.” And this was at the federal level. Now these same courts say states can’t even display replicas that existed since our founding on public property.

Fun fact: Just four days prior to President Washington’s October proclamation, the House passed the final version of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the entire structure and jurisdiction of the federal judiciary.

No less a figure than John Marshall himself said (Durousseau v. United States, 1810) that implicit in this bill was the exercising of Article III, Section 2, which grants the judiciary only the jurisdiction provided to it by Congress and that this bill placed a “negative on the exercise of such appellate power as is not comprehended within it [the bill].”

So let’s get this straight: In the same week that Congress granted the judiciary its jurisdiction, it also passed the Bill of Rights — including the Establishment Clause — and called for a national day of prayer.

This day of prayer and thanksgiving to God, in the words of the great Roger Sherman, was to replicate through the celebration of the Constitution, “the solemn thanksgivings and rejoicings which took place in the time of Solomon, after the building of the Temple,” a “precedent in holy writ” he thought “worthy of Christian imitation on the present occasion.” Yet the judiciary is now saying the Constitution is reason to eradicate God’s name from our country and that they have jurisdiction to do so!

In fact, as I’ve noted before, the only true violation of the Establishment Clause is the requirement of the sexual identity religion to force individual business owners to actually service their religion in contravention to the conscience rights of the owner.

It is truly hard to conceive a nightmare scenario in which the Constitution and our history would be contorted in a more dramatic fashion than what the courts are doing today. Yet this is the logical outcome of a generation of law students who have been indoctrinated into a belief system that replaces the house of worship for the courtroom and an entertainment industry that glorifies the legal profession.

This is a lawsuit that should be rejected by 100 percent of Republican and Democrat appointees, irrespective of their personal religious or political beliefs. It upends our Constitution, tradition, and history and rules our heritage illegal. Yet every Democrat and half the Republicans backhandedly overruled our foundation. You tell me this system is salvageable?! (And if past history is any indication, don’t expect Chief Justice Roberts to grant an appeal to defendants.)

Where is Congress? Where is the outrage and use of numerous tools to block implementation of these sort of misconceived decisions or to strip the courts of their jurisdiction? What about a simple resolution of disapproval? Instead, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (F, 40%) has propagated the dictates of the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not criticize a judge. It’s just a shame those very same judges already abolished the first Ten Commandments. (For more from the author of “10th Circuit Trumps the Ten Commandments” please click HERE)

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Satanist Destroys Ten Commandments Monument

Photo Credit: TownHallA notable act of public vandalism occurred in Oklahoma today, as a crazed Satanist drove his car to a federal building and crashed it into a controversial monument of the Ten Commandments. As the Associated Press reports:

[A] man was detained after he showed up at a federal building in Oklahoma City Friday morning, rambling and making derogatory statements about the president, and admitted destroying the monument, said David Allison, an agent with the U.S. Secret Service in Oklahoma City.

“He claimed he got out of his car, urinated on the monument, and then ran over it and destroyed it,” Allison said. “He said Satan told him to do it, and that he was a Satanist.”

Read more from this story HERE.

NY Group Unveils Design for Satan Statue Next to 10 Commandments in Oklahoma (+video)

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Associated Press.

A satanic group unveiled designs Monday for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan it wants to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol, where a Ten Commandments monument was placed in 2012.

The New York-based Satanic Temple formally submitted its application to a panel that oversees the Capitol grounds, including an artist’s rendering that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard that’s often used as a symbol of the occult. In the rendering, Satan is sitting in a pentagram-adorned throne with smiling children next to him.

“The monument has been designed to reflect the views of Satanists in Oklahoma City and beyond,” temple spokesman Lucien Greaves said in a statement. “The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Satanists unveil design for OK statehouse statue

By Daniel Burke.

Satanists have unveiled their design for a proposed statue at the Oklahoma state Capitol, including a place for people to sit on the devil’s lap “for inspiration and contemplation.”

The New York-based Satanic Temple submitted its proposal to Oklahoma officials this month after applying for a spot on capitol grounds late last year. The Satanists say their statue would “complement and contrast” with a Ten Commandments monument placed at the Capitol in Oklahoma City in 2012.

The Satanists’ proposed monument depicts Baphomet, a goat-headed pagan idol sitting on a 7-foot-tall throne inscribed with an inverted pentagram. In an artist’s rendering provided by the Satanic Temple, smiling children look adoringly at the devilish figure.

“The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures,” Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the Satanic Temple, said in a statement. “The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.”

According to its Indiegogo page, the Satanists have raised more than $16,000 toward their goal of $20,000 for the monument, which Greaves said would “be a historical marker commemorating the scapegoats, the marginalized, the demonized minority and the unjustly outcast.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Satanists Seek Spot Next to Ten Commandments Monument on Steps of Oklahoma’s Statehouse

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

In their zeal to tout their faith in the public square, conservatives in Oklahoma may have unwittingly opened the door to a wide range of religious groups, including satanists who are seeking to put their own statue next to a Ten Commandments monument on the Statehouse steps.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in this state known as the buckle of the Bible Belt authorized the privately funded Ten Commandments monument in 2009, and it was placed on the Capitol grounds last year despite criticism from legal experts who questioned its constitutionality. The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking its removal.

But the New York-based Satanic Temple saw an opportunity. It notified the state’s Capitol Preservation Commission that it wants to donate a monument and plans to submit one of several possible designs this month, said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the temple.

“We believe that all monuments should be in good taste and consistent with community standards,” Greaves wrote in letter to state officials. “Our proposed monument, as an homage to the historic/literary Satan, will certainly abide by these guidelines.”

Greaves said one potential design involves a pentagram, a satanic symbol, while another is meant to be an interactive display for children. He said he expects the monument, if approved by Oklahoma officials, would cost about $20,000.

Read more from this story HERE.

10 Commandments Monument Toppled, Reagan Statue Torched

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

10 Commandments monument toppled in Washington

By Jessica Gresko.

A stone monument of the Ten Commandments that sits on a street behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington and was the subject of controversy in the past has been toppled by vandals.

The 3-foot-by-3-foot granite monument weighs 850 pounds and sits out front of the headquarters of Faith and Action, a Christian outreach ministry. The group installed the tablets in a garden outside its offices in 2006, and the group’s president said the tablets were angled so that justices arriving at the high court would see them.

The Rev. Robert Schenck, who heads the organization, said the damage to the monument happened sometime between Friday night and Saturday night. A minister who works in the area alerted the group to the damage around 9 p.m. Saturday.

The monument had been pushed over so that the words of the Ten Commandments are now face down. Vandals bent a steel rod that secures the monument to a thick concrete base to an almost 90 degree angle. The monument itself is not damaged, Schenck said.

“Whoever did this was determined to get it done because it’s not something you could easily do,” Schenck said, adding that the vandals also installed a “For Rent” yard sign by the monument and that the vandalism was reported to police.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Ronald Reagan Library

Photo Credit: Ronald Reagan Library

Vandals torch Ronald Reagan statue at California park

By Cheryl K. Chumley.

Vandals set fire to a life-size statue of Ronald Reagan at a Southern California sports park that bears the name of the 40th president, authorities reported Monday.

The bronze statue stands at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in Temecula, Calif., the very same site praised by Reagan in the 1980s as a solid example of what volunteerism and fundraising can accomplish — rather than government regulation and taxpayer dollars.

Read more from this story HERE.

Nation’s First Monument to Atheism on Government Property Erected: “It’s Only the Beginning” (+video)

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

A monument to atheism now sits near a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse in a conservative north Florida town.

The New Jersey-based group American Atheists unveiled the 1,500-bound granite bench Saturday as a counter to the religious monument in what’s called a free speech zone.

Read more from this story HERE.

Moral Decay in Bull’s-Eye of Billboard, Banner Campaigns: ‘What Happens in Vegas, God Knows’

A man who has been placing Ten Commandment billboards and displays around the country for several years says he is excited about WND founder Joseph Farah’s new billboard campaign to remind the public of their accountability to God’s moral law.

“If between us we can put thousands of these billboards and displays up, I truly believe America could turn around from the moral decay we have been seeing,” Philip Klevmoen founder of God’s Ten Commandments said.

Klevmoen founded the ministry in 2005 to draw people’s hearts back to God through public displays of the Ten Commandments, along with Scripture verses to convict people of their need to establish a relationship with God. The ministry provides banners as well as magnets and T-shirts of various sizes for display on vehicles.

“My goal is to have it where everywhere a person goes they will see the word of God, which will pierce their soul and remind them they are accountable for their sin before God,” he explained. “People can put it on the tailgates of their pickups or the sides of their vehicles. When a person is stuck behind or beside them in traffic they have God’s Ten Commandments in front of them where they cannot help but read them.”

He said one of the key people who motivated him to begin his ministry was Alabama state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. The judge is known as the Ten Commandments judge following his refusal to remove a display of the Ten Commandments from his state court building.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ten Commandments Judge Roy Moore Wins Again as Alabama’s Chief Justice

Judge Roy Moore, who made headlines when state officials removed him from his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003, has been re-elected to that very post.

In a race that was called some hours after polls closed tonight, Moore was declared winner of the race over Bob Vance, a Jefferson County circuit judge. The victory margin was 52-48 percent.

After the race was called, Moore told WND that he’ll be concentrating on assessing the case load, the budget and other administrative tasks as soon as he takes office early in the new year.

“It was a wonderful victory,” he said.

In a recent editorial asking for votes from his state’s residents, he explained that the controversy that resulted in his removal nearly 10 years ago was not primarily about a Ten Commandments monument he had had installed in the court building.

“I will … lead the judicial system of Alabama to uphold constitutional principles and moral values contained in our law and will resist all efforts to disparage or destroy our beloved constitution,” he wrote then.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Comeback Kid: Roy Moore leading candidate for Alabama’s Chief Justice

Nine years after a battle over a stone monument listing the Ten Commandments inside a state court building in Alabama, the state Supreme Court chief justice who was removed from office by a state judiciary panel is the leading candidate – to be the state Supreme Court chief justice.

Judge Roy Moore had installed the 5,280-pound stone monument as part of an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty over American life, and when he refused to haul it away as a federal judge wanted, a state judicial panel removed him from office.

But after a stunning upset victory over two better-funded competitors for the GOP nomination for the office, incumbent Chuck Malone and former state Attorney General Charlie Graddick, Moore now is leading in the statewide race in Alabama, where voters choose the chief justice.

According to a poll taken just days ago, Moore leads Democrat Harry Lyon by 21 points, 54 percent to 33 percent. The poll surveyed 600 Alabama voters.

He’s built that stunning support with endorsements that include one even from the Democratic Alabama AFL-CIO.

State President Al Henley told Real Clear Politics it’s the first time the union group has backed Moore, and Moore was the only Republican picked by the group this year.

Henley cited Moore’s record as a circuit judge in Gadsden and as a Supreme Court justice from 2001-2003 of treating the average person fairly in court.

Read more from this story HERE.