Dems would reject Moses if Trump nominated him

Last Wednesday was one of the worst days that Democrats, or Dems, have experienced since President Trump's election: when 81-year-old U.S. Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he was going to retire, leaving a vacant seat on the highest court of the land to be filled by the president and U.S. Senate.

Before the president and other conservative lawmakers even convened to discuss Justice Kennedy's possible replacements, liberals and progressives whined and cried injustice as they predicted the certain overturn of Roe v. Wade and the demise of modern left shifts in social equality.

To say pessimism abounded among Dems about the president's possible replacement is a grave understatement. Leading liberals had a complete meltdown over the thought that another conservative might be appointed to the court. Apocalyptic fear and pandemonium immediately hit the fan and airwaves from mainstream media news stations to the blogosphere.

Here's a sample of the pessimistic and polemical comments that came from Dem leaders across the nation:

• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said it was "the end of the US Constitution."
• Liberal late-night hosts Trevor Noah said, "it feels like all hope is lost."
• Stephen Colbert said the country is "supremely screwed."
• The Washington Post lamented about "Republicans' increasing monopoly on American government."
• And leftist filmmaker Michael Moore cried out for a civil war: "The only way that we're going to stop this is eventually we're all going to have to put our bodies on the line. You're going to have to be willing to do this."

Some Dems have committed to fight like hell to defer any Supreme Court appointment until after the November elections. But in doing so they overlook that one-third of all U.S. presidents nominated a Supreme Court justice in an election year.

Many other Dems have complained that two chief justice appointments by the president in the first 16 months of his term is unprecedented and unfair.

Wait. What's wrong with this picture? Does anyone remember the presidencies of former presidents Clinton and Obama?

Both presidents Clinton and Obama appointed two Supreme Court Justices in their first two years of office. Clinton appointed Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Obama appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan.

And what did leading Republicans and Independents do at the time when Obama and Clinton nominated those Supreme Court Justices? They may have momentarily balked at the choices but ultimately submitted to both president's choices. They didn't agree or like the candidates, but they knew and believed the U.S. Constitution granted the elected-sitting president the honor, right and duty to nominate his choices to the highest court, according to Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

And yet now, Dems are wholehearted and even ferociously committed to stop president Trump's pick no matter who it is and what the cost?

It seems the only thing that would satisfy Dems is if they get to appoint who they want whether a Democratic or Republican president is in the White House.

My friend and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee was right this past week on Fox News when he quipped that even if Trump nominated Moses, one of the chief lawgivers and "judges" this world has ever seen, Dems would still oppose him. They won't be unhappy no matter who Trump nominates.

In his own words, Huckabee said, "If he put Moses up for the possibility of being Supreme Court Justice – the ultimate lawgiver, the Ten Commandments – they would still be against it."

Immediately upon hearing his words, I thought, Huckabee is exactly right. The Dems would reject Moses or any other ancient and amazing lawgiver if those colossal figures differed in any way from their political platform.

Ironically, or maybe not, considering Moses as a Supreme Court Justice made me think about how depictions of Moses appear at several places on and around the Supreme Court building itself. There's an exterior portrait medallion of Moses on the West Façade (front western side of building.) Moses is also shown with two stone tablets on the ornamental metope located on a frieze on the inside of the Great Hall. Moses with tablets is also among "the great lawgivers of history" frieze on the South Wall in the Courtroom itself. There is also an image of the Ten Commandments that is engraved on the frame of the bronze gates separating the courtroom from the aisle, and one carved in the large oak doors that enter the courtroom itself. Lastly, but certainly not least, in the back of the building on the very top of the courthouse under what appears to be the eve of the pitched roof (the East Pediment), a full-figured sitting Moses is depicted as the central figure among other lawgivers holding a tablet of the Ten Commandment in his right and left hand.

Can you imagine modern builders displaying so many depictions of Moses if they were to construct the Supreme Court building today?

(Interestingly, among lawgivers depicted on marble relief portraits around the top inside of the Chamber of the House of Representatives, only the full-facial figure of Moses is displayed as if looking down upon proceedings while all others are in a profile position. And there are many other places in Washington D.C. where Moses and the Ten Commandments can be observed.)

As president Trump reduces the candidate list among his possible nominations to replace Justice Kennedy, with the goal of announcing his chosen nominee on July 9, we the people need to pray for him and the entire affirming process through the U.S. Senate. We could honestly use a Moses about now, because, as the Architect of the Capitol described his actions: he "transformed a wandering people into a nation."

And as far as the Dems pessimistic and disparaging words and actions against any of the president's picks for Supreme Court Justice, I would suggest the president might pray the very words of the great lawmaker and leader of Israel: "Then Moses cried out to the Lord, 'What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.'"