In the midst of America’s raging culture war, I am pleased to report some great news from the Supreme Court. Conservatives won two huge cases yesterday on national security and our First Amendment rights.

First, the Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s authority to limit immigration from nations known to be hotbeds of extremism — countries like Iran, Syria and Venezuela.

In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court ruled that Trump’s decision to restrict immigration from such countries was “squarely within the scope of presidential authority.”

Most Americans understood that. One poll last summer found that 60% of Americans backed the president’s “travel ban” while just 28% opposed it. Yet liberal judges repeatedly blocked the president.

One left-wing senator is already promising to introduce legislation to strip the president of this authority. I urge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to put that bill on the Senate floor for a vote as quickly as possible.

The American people need to see that debate. We need to know which senators think it is a good idea to keep bringing in people from countries like Somalia and Yemen — hotbeds of jihadism.

Responding to the decision, President Trump said in a statement:

“As long as I am President, I will defend the sovereignty, safety, and security of the American People, and fight for an immigration system that serves the national interests of the United States and its citizens. Our country will always be safe, secure, and protected on my watch.”

Victory on Life Too!

The second big decision involved a California law that attempted to force pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortions. Yes, that’s right. Left-wing politicians actually tried to force pro-life ministries to advertise the availability of taxpayer-funded abortions.

This was a very disturbing case given the growing extremism we are seeing on the Left today, which is trying to silence political dissent. But some on the Left are going so far as to force men and women of faith to do and say things they don’t believe.

Obama did that when he tried to force Catholic nuns to pay for contraception in their health care plans. Thankfully, the Supreme Court stopped him, and yesterday my good friend Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the Court’s majority, stopped this terrible California law.

Sadly, both of these cases were decided by the slimmest of margins — on 5-4 votes. Most importantly, we would not have won these cases if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election. Donald Trump’s appointee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, was part of the five-vote majority in both decisions.

The Left is furious. Given the atmosphere we’re in, I sure hope the five conservative justices have good security.

Divided Over Demonstrations

Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi issued statements attempting to distance themselves from Maxine Waters’ call for more demonstrations against Trump officials.

Waters attempted to defend herself by insisting that she only called for “peaceful protests.” But Waters has a history of fanning the flames.

For example, she labeled the Rodney King riots an “insurrection” and called them “a defining moment.” Those riots took place in 1992 when Donald Trump was still a New York businessman. More than 50 people were killed. Two thousand people were injured. Fires and looting destroyed scores of businesses and caused more than $1 billion in property damage.

Some “defining moment.”

But the Left has its marching orders. Demonstrators carrying “wanted” posters showed up at the home of Trump aide Stephen Miller, hoping to harass him.

Speaking of harassment, The Washington Post ran a news story about Sarah Huckabee Sanders getting kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant. They interviewed the owner who said that she felt compelled to act on the spur of the moment, but insisted she really is not a confrontational person.

Here’s what the Post didn’t tell us: When Sanders and her in-laws left the Red Hen, Sarah left the area while the rest of her family went to a different restaurant. Gov. Mike Huckabee told Fox News that “the owner of the Red Hen then organized an effort to go and scream at them from the sidewalk at the other restaurant.”

These people yelling “Fascist!” at normal conservative views are using Goebbel’s handbook. This is what actual fascists do to their enemies. They harass them and attempt to intimidate them into silence and submission.

Portland Siege

The siege of the Homeland Security/ICE offices in Portland by extremists and anarchists in the Occupy “fill-in-the-blank” movement continues. Islamic jihadists everywhere are applauding.

Federal officers distributed fliers telling the demonstrators to disperse or they would be arrested. Frankly, they should have been arrested several days ago. And the Justice Department should bring charges against the mayor of Portland for refusing to protect federal facilities in his city.

Meanwhile, the Occupy movement against ICE is spreading across the country under the mantra “No borders, no nations, no deportations.”

And the demonstrators in Portland aren’t moving. They posted a message on social media that reads:

“Rooted as a tree, solid as a rock, united as a people. We are organized, we are ready, we here to stay until ICE is abolished!!! We need you to Rise Up, Fight Back!”

In Washington, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) is introducing legislation to abolish ICE. Again, Speaker Paul Ryan should call the Left’s bluff and put that bill on the House floor for a vote this week. Let’s have that debate.

Strzok to the Hill

Disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill today — behind closed doors. President Trump tweeted that the hearing should be public for the sake of transparency. He is absolutely correct.

If the Strzok hearing is conducted behind closed doors, I can guarantee you that left-wing hacks on the committee will twist and leak details to benefit their cause.

Confidence in our government institutions — especially Congress — is extremely low. One reason is that all we have seen for the past 10 years is one leftist after another getting off time and time again no matter what they have done.

Whether it was Lois Lerner in the IRS scandal, Eric Holder in the Fast and Furious scandal, or Hillary Clinton in her email scandal and everyone else who pled the Fifth, no one was held accountable.

We must end the legal double standard and restore our confidence in the equal application of the law. A good first step would be forcing Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr and all the other “hating frauds” to testify in public about their meddling in the 2016 elections.