“Justice O’Connor’s retirement opens the door for the opportunity that tens of millions of Americans have been praying for for more than a decade. That opportunity, of course, is to redress the imbalance in the Supreme Court and to make it a solidly original-intent court that will interpret the Constitution, not view it as an ‘evolving’ document to be rewritten according to the personal views of the justices with allusions to international law. George W. Bush’s long-term legacy as president will in all probability hinge on whether he now keeps his promise to nominate only judges and justices who fit the Scalia-Thomas, original-intent-jurist mold. Justice O’Connor has been the swing vote for many 5-4 decisions, most of which have dismayed social conservatives, including the partial-birth abortion decisions and most recently in the Ten Commandments cases. For President Bush, social conservatives and the senators they helped elect, the moment of truth has arrived.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest non-Catholic denomination with more than 16.3 million members in 43,024 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC’s ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
