The Patriot Post® · Supreme Court Advantage

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/56899-supreme-court-advantage-2018-07-02

One week from today President Trump will announce his pick for the Supreme Court. The Sunday talk shows were abuzz yesterday with talk about the great constitutional questions facing our Republic — immigration policy, separation of powers, surveillance law, insurance mandates…

Just kidding, of course. The shows were full of back and forth over abortion. Leonard Leo, president of The Federalist Society, was grilled by Chris Wallace on Fox News. Senate swing vote Susan Collins of Maine was asked repeatedly by ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Jake Tapper how the 1973 Supreme Court decision would play into her vote on the nominee. Never one to surprise, Collins said she would oppose any nominee who was “hostile” to the abortion ruling.

My friends, liberals are not only desperate, they are obsessed. The United States is one of just seven countries on the face of the planet to allow abortion-on-demand up to birth. We’re in the company of the likes of North Korea and communist China — the kinds of places where the people didn’t get to vote on this issue (or any other).

Come to think of it, we didn’t get to vote on it either. Like Canada, our lawless law on abortion was invented by a Supreme Court that removed all protection for the lives of children before birth.

So here we are, in 2018, and it’s obvious that Roe v. Wade is more controversial — and more despised — than ever. One state after another is banning abortions committed on children identified with Down syndrome, on late-term babies who can feel pain, on babies at six weeks, 12 weeks, and 15 weeks, babies about to be dismembered or babies with a heartbeat. 

The list goes on and on. And in the face of this carnage that Americans increasingly reject, the Left looks at 25 magnificently qualified men and women and all they can say is, “The Supreme Court must make sure even more millions of our unborn must die.”

The late abortion activist Lawrence Lader said it best for the lifestyle Left: “Abortion is central to everything in life and how we want to live it.” For most Americans, our children and families, our communities, our churches, and our nation’s freedom are what’s central. The last thing we fear is that a few more boys and girls will be welcomed in life and protected in our laws.

On this question, the Left isn’t just losing the argument, it’s losing its grip.

Nation Under Siege

If you’re traveling by air this summer, and this past weekend was reportedly the busiest of the year, you may have noticed you were screened, searched, and possibly patted down by government agents. It’s a reminder of the cost of terrorism and it’s tempting to want to put all of that behind us.

But news is breaking this morning that the FBI has arrested a suspect and charged him with planning an attack in downtown Cleveland on the Fourth of July. Occasions that are symbols of our nation’s proud history are inviting targets to these vicious thugs. They will stop at nothing to destroy all we hold dear.

Today’s news is a powerful reminder of why we reject the counsel of people who think the U.S. immigration enforcement agency is a “terrorist” organization. Calls for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau continue to grow. This is nothing short of insane. ICE had encounters with 2,554 individuals on our terror watch list in 2017 alone.

Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, who also goes by the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, planned to pack a van with explosives and detonate it at Cleveland’s July 4 parade. He is reportedly a U.S. citizen with a long rap sheet and a professed love for Al Qaeda, which, of course, is still active around the world.  Pitts may be homegrown, but the truth is that three of every four individuals convicted of international terrorism in U.S. federal courts in the modern era have been foreign nationals. 

Many good people seek to enter our country, but it’s delusional — and dangerous — to believe America can do without border control. We get to decide who enters this great nation — the security of our people is government’s first priority.

Let’s honor and thank the frontline men and women who walk the desert floors and fly the twilight skies to keep us safe.