Why do conservative lawyers seem to acquiesce to morally bankrupt Supreme Court decisions on abortion and marriage? It’s because they are taught the law by reading court opinions; they are not taught that opinions should rest on a set of ethical principles.

Thus, lawyers tend to treat Supreme Court opinions as if they are infallible commentaries on the Constitution or actual statements of the law.

But here’s the truth: Appellate court opinions are not legally operative instruments.

That’s why the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said,

The Judiciary . . . must . . . depend upon . . . the executive arm and the States . . . for the efficacy of its judgments.

In other words, judicial tyranny will only end when we, the people, remind lawyers, judges, and legislators that court opinions are not the law.

The FACT Report, featured on several conservative radio stations, is a weekly one-minute audio commentary about a political or cultural issue affecting Tennesseans.

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The post The Cause of and Cure for Judicial Tyranny appeared first on Family Action Council of Tennessee.

The controversy swirling in our country about Roe v. Wade and whether an unborn child has a right to life under the U.S. Constitution evokes memories of a sad chapter in American history, the United States Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision.

The Court held that those descendants of slaves who had been born in our country were not citizens. Slaves were “considered . . .  a subordinate and inferior class of beings”  when the Constitution was ratified.

Similarly, in its Roe decision and ever since, the Supreme Court has treated the unborn child as a subordinate and inferior class of beings who are not constitutional persons having any rights. As with slavery, it’s time to enact legislation that will allow the Supreme Court to bring this new dehumanizing chapter in American history to a close.

The FACT Report, featured on several conservative radio stations, is a weekly one-minute audio commentary about a political or cultural issue affecting Tennesseans.

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The post Bringing History to Light for the Sake of the Present appeared first on Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Recently, K-12 students across the state headed back to the classroom for the new school year. And many in our colleges began their new fall semester.

This time of year, it would not be surprising if students found themselves agreeing with King Solomon, who so aptly said in Ecclesiastes 1:13, “I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!”

While they might be groaning under the burden of tests and homework, we need to be praying for those students and their teachers that they would remember these words of Solomon, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and in all your getting get understanding” and “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

The FACT Report, featured on several conservative radio stations, is a weekly one-minute audio commentary about a political or cultural issue affecting Tennesseans.

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The post A Back-to-School Prayer appeared first on Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Last week the Tennessee Senate’s Judiciary Committee heard two days of testimony regarding a proposed amendment to a “heartbeat” bill.

The amendment would directly challenge the United States Supreme Court’s 14th Amendment abortion jurisprudence that denies any rights to the unborn child by banning abortion after life in the womb is detected. But the amendment was based on the power of states under the Ninth Amendment to make more secure the “other rights” not enumerated in Constitution.

The testimony was clear and un-rebutted—those other rights are our common law rights, and at common law, the right to life, even in the mother’s womb, was absolute unless forfeited by a due process of law.

This new legal theory creating a conflict between the Ninth and 14 Amendments could provide the challenge that overturns Roe v. Wade.

The FACT Report, featured on several conservative radio stations, is a weekly one-minute audio commentary about a political or cultural issue affecting Tennesseans.

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The post Challenging Roe v. Wade with the Constitution appeared first on Family Action Council of Tennessee.

This week, the Tennessee Senate’s Judiciary Committee heard two days of testimony on the fetal heartbeat bill passed by the House last spring. Many citizens responded to the hearings by contacting the committee members, urging them to recommend to their Senate colleagues the rewritten version of the House bill.

But they can’t do that until the legislature reconvenes in January. Then the committee can decide whether to recommend the bill to the full Senate or suggest a different bill. When that time comes, the voices of pro-life Tennesseans will need to be heard again.

If you want to know what you can do now, please pray that the members of this committee will have the information, wisdom, and courage they need to make sure the Volunteer State does its part to protect the unborn from conception to live birth.

The FACT Report, featured on several conservative radio stations, is a weekly one-minute audio commentary about a political or cultural issue affecting Tennesseans.

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The post Pray for Tennessee Legislation Concerning Unborn Babies appeared first on Family Action Council of Tennessee.