Dr. Richard Land, president of The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, praised the Senate’s confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
“Today, a giant step has been made toward restoring the constitutional balance of powers envisioned by the founders of our nation,” Land said.
“Tens of millions of Americans, including myself, have been extremely anguished about the increasingly, some would say unconstitutionally, powerful role of the Supreme Court over the last four decades. On many occasions, members of the Supreme Court felt no compunction about striking down laws—passed by the people’s elected representatives—that offended their personal sense of right and wrong, as opposed to interpreting the Constitution.
“Elections have consequences. In both 2000 and 2004, President George W. Bush campaigned on the promise that he would nominate only strict-constructionist, original-intent jurists who would pledge themselves to interpret the Constitution and not seek to act as the country’s unelected legislators. His opponents in both campaigns supported the Supreme Court’s direction over the last 40 years and promised to oppose vigorously any attempts to rein in the Court’s excessive and unconstitutional power.
“Justices Roberts and Alito combine strongly held views of judicial restraint with skills and abilities that make them two of the most gifted Supreme Court justices who have ever been confirmed by the Senate.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest non-Catholic denomination with more than 16.3 million members in over 43,500 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC’s ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.
