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As if the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals isn’t busy enough this week. Not only will it decide on ObamaCare, it got the above question, too, in a case in which The Family Foundation filed an amicus brief last year. Now asked, another three judge panel will decide the constitutionality of the prayer policy of the Forsyth County, N.C. — but with national implications.

The policy, drafted by the Alliance Defense Fund, allows for anyone of any faith to pray before county government meetings on a first come, first serve basis. The content of the prayers are not reviewed by government officials. Plaintiffs represented by the ACLU contend that, because most of the “prayers” at the meetings over an eighteen month period were “sectarian,” the policy is unconstitutional. According to ADF attorneys, plaintiffs have argued in briefs that any prayer before public meetings is unconstitutional.

Judges Harvie Wilkinson, Paul Niemeyer and Barbara Keenan comprise the panel. If their questioning of attorneys arguing the case is any indication of where they stand on the issue, Judge Keenan is clearly in the ACLU camp. Appointed to the court by President Obama, she was particularly hostile toward ADF’s arguments and clearly favored the idea of “inclusive” prayers if there were going to be any prayers at all. Judge Niemeyer appeared much more favorable toward public prayer, stating that prayers without mentioning a specific deity are “just words.” Judge Wilkinson seemed like the swing vote, questioning both sides on multiple issues throughout the hour and ten minute hearing.

The details of this case date back to March 2007 when the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit against North Carolina’s Forsyth County Board of Supervisors, stating:

[the Board] does not have a policy which discourages or prohibits those whom [the Board] has invited to deliver prayers from including references to Jesus Christ, or any other sectarian deity, as part of their prayers.

As ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson, who argued in favor of the policy, aptly pointed out, “An invocation according to the dictates of the giver’s conscience is not an establishment of religion. If it was, you’d have to argue that the drafters of the U.S. Constitution were violating the Constitution in the prayers and invocations that they themselves offered.” (Mike Johnson testified, at Family Foundation request during the 2009 General Assembly, on behalf of the rights of state police chaplains to pray in Jesus’ name. See video.)

A primary issue in the case is whether or not a voluntary prayer before a government meeting is “government” or private speech. If private, it is clearly protected by the First Amendment. But by the ACLU’s logic, anything said at a government meeting by a private individual is government speech just by virtue of saying at that meeting.

Several Virginia legislators also signed on to an amicus brief in support of religious liberty in Joyner v. Forsyth County. They include Delegates Kathy Byron (R-22, Lynchburg), Bill Carrico (R-5, Galax), Bob Marshall (R-13, Manassas), and Brenda Pogge (R-96, Yorktown); and Senators Mark Obenshain (R-26, Harrisonburg) and Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-27, Winchester).

I was hoping to write about a smashing, never-in-a-million-years-possible victory on property rights protection tonight; about how we were one step closer to enshrining that fundamental right into the Virginia Constitution. However, the Senate delayed the vote on HJ 693 (Delegate Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth) until tomorrow.

This one day delay gives you another chance to contact your senator, if you have not already done so, and ask him or her to vote to ensure this basic, fundamental right: To own property — for family, business or farm, or any legal reason — and not fear the government’s power of eminent domain, where it can take it and hand it over to a corporation because it can produce more tax revenue than your house or business. The right to own property, and be justly compensated for it if a true public need requires a government taking, is a requisite tool to preserve individual liberty and curb the growth and intrusiveness of government. It also is a matter of basic fairness: Some localities in the past have taken entire neighborhoods on the pretext that one or two houses were “blighted” and sold to developers for huge amounts of money.

We strongly urge you to contact your senator now. It will be a close, but winnable vote. This is historic — the Virginia Senate has not taken up such a measure in recent memory. People who believe that government has become too big in size and scope now must take only a few moments to click below and make their voices heard to their elected representatives. This is our moment. If this vote fails, we will have to wait at least three more years for the opportunity to vote at the ballot box for a state constitutional amendment to guarantee this precious and God-given right.

We cannot let this opportunity to get meaningful protections fail. For the longest time the Virginia Senate has been a roadblock, but tonight we are on the doorstep of a historic victory. Securing private property rights ensures stable families, jobs, farms and even the right to worship freely. Let’s beat back the special interests and local governments once and for all and ask your senator to represent you, not government.

Politicians come and go. The courts are unpredictable. The only permanent protections of our rights are those in the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions. Please act to ensure them now.

Contact your senator by e-mail.

Contact your senator by phone.

Learn who your senator is.

This morning the House Privileges and Elections Committee voted to report the Repeal Amendment (HJ 542) to the floor by a vote of 15-7. All 14 Republicans were joined by one Democrat, Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth). The resolution, patroned by Delegate James LeMunyon (R-67, Chantilly) and heavily supported by House Speaker Bill Howell (R-28, Fredericksburg), did not go through sub-committee.

It was the only legislation heard in the committee and discussion lasted more than an hour — some of it enlightening and, inevitably, some very disappointing, including opponents’ injection of race into the debate. While opposition lawmakers tried to raise incendiary, irrelevant and inconsistent points, committee proponents and a plethora of witnesses (including The Family Foundation) underlined the necessity of rebalancing power with Washington, D.C., and the necessary re-establishment of our founding system of federalism. That’s where we get our Quote of the Day, from Delegate Bill Janis (R-56, Henrico).

Responding to Delegate Mark Sickles’ (D-43, Fairfax) contention that while Washington, D.C., doesn’t do things efficiently, much less perfectly, it eventually gets it right, Delegate Janis replied, in part:

Washington, D.C., is 100 acres of fantasy land surrounded by reality.

The Repeal Amendment should be on the House floor early next week. If passed, it will go to the Senate where a version there was defeated earlier this week. The amendment, if approved by three-fourths of the states, would authorize a constitutional convention to adopt the Repeal Amendment into the U.S. Constitution. The Repeal Amendment would, with two-thirds of the states concurring, repeal any federal law or regulation in U.S. Code.

Although it is the first of many court decisions he faces, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli this week became the first person to successfully challenge President Obama’s federal health insurance scheme. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled a key component of the plan — the “individual mandate” — unconstitutional.

In his opinion, Judge Hudson concluded:

Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter a stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market. In doing so, enactment of the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision exceeds the Commerce Clause powers vested in Congress under Article I.

He added that the individual mandate “is neither within the letter nor the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.” That letter meaning this: “Regulate” during the days of the constitution’s adoption meant, “to make regular.” Far from taking over entire industries, the federal government instead was to ensure that states didn’t discriminate against businesses from one state to the advantage of one from another.

The Obama administration argued that the constitution’s Commerce Clause gives the government broad authority to order Americans to purchase health insurance because not doing so adversely affects commerce. Of course, this unprecedented attempt to force Americans to purchase a product was predicated on labeling inactivity (not buying insurance) “interstate commerce.” Stranger than fiction, we know.

While the Obama administration will appeal Monday’s decision to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Cuccinelli would prefer an expedited appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was in talks with the Department of Justice about a joint motion to that affect, but it now appears DOJ wants no part of it (better to delay until more and more parts of the law go into affect). However, Mr. Cuccinelli told Fox New Channel’s Greta Van Susteren Monday night he may go forward on that by himself and also may appeal Judge Hudson’s refusal to place an injunction on the health care law (see video). He has 30 days from last Monday to make that appeal. Regardless of how or when, ultimately Obamacare’s fate will be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court.

While there are dozens of reasons to oppose Obamacare (see Obamacare411), the provision that requires otherwise free Americans to purchase health insurance or face penalties is the most egregious — but it is also the financial linchpin of the entire law. Without the mandate, much of the rest of the law is untenable.

Earlier this year, The Family Foundation supported the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, the basis for the Commonwealth’s lawsuit against the federal government. It protects Virginia citizens from being compelled to buy insurance against their will. We applaud the Attorney General and his staff for their commitment to protecting the freedom of Virginians. For a great perspective on the hearing and Judge Hudson’s ruling, view Mr. Cuccinelli’s post-decision news conference (click here). We are the only news or Internet site that recorded and posted the entire news conference.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews Thursday night to discuss the proposed Repeal Amendment (see Norfolk Virginian-Pilot), a mechanism that would allow two-thirds of the states to nullify a federal law or regulation (see Speaker Bill Howell’s op-ed at Cato.org). Because A) he utterly disassembled Matthews, as he did Eliot “Client Number 9″ Spitzer a couple of weeks ago on CNN, and B) because no one watches MSNBC, we thought we’d post the video for your entertainment.

These things often are painful to watch. The liberal, in this case Matthews, either cannot grasp the issues and/or ignores them and makes, as the Attorney General accurately states, “assumptions” to suit his argument. In other words, the old leftist tactic of putting his negative words in your mouth and trying to force you to defend the absurd proposition. In this case, Matthews continue to ram the proposition that anyone who favors the repeal amendment was appealing to Johnny Reb and the redneck South. Nevermind that the U.S. Constitution was created by the states for the states, not to cede every element of life to a small band of federal government bureaucrats.

Never fear. Attorney General Cuccinelli would have nothing of it and, in the process, took apart and exposed the visibly disgusted Matthews — who plainly indicated his elitist belief that only Washington, D.C., can make good decisions — and revealed him as both of the above: clueless and a demagogue.

Update: The AG is saying tonight that the federal court ruling on the constitutionality of Obamacare will be issued Monday. Stay tuned. If he has a news conference, we will be there to cover it.

Enjoy the video (9:05):

A little knowledge is dangerous, Chris. Perhaps a little preparation next time? Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli takes apart elitist Chris Matthews. 

One of the lighter moments of the Virginia TEA Party Convention last weekend was Friday morning, when a group promoting a new 25-minute documentary by the National Republican Trust, a political action committee not affiliated with the Republican Party, staged a “funeral” for the U.S. Constitution and “Integrity.” A re-enactor portraying Thomas Jefferson led a solemn processions inside the Greater Richmond Convention Center as well as on downtown Richmond streets, slowly ringing a bell, before stopping and eulogizing the late founding document and the integrity with which our representatives used to govern. It was well received by the TEA Partiers, many of whom stood and applauded at first sighting of the coffins, fully understanding the point before the speech. A flurry of photographers — media and spectators — snapped away. One gentleman even placed his hat over his heart!

It was an early event at the convention — before it had even started — and an unofficial one at that, but the reactions of the crowd were telling. Far from an angry mob as the mainstream media portrays them, these are every day citizens with a deep love of country and, perhaps, a deeper concern for its current direction.

Is the Constitution dead? Or just sleeping, like Lazarus, waiting for a “great awakening” November 2?

Today is the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, know as Constitution or Citizenship Day. Not surprisingly, polls are finding that a vast majority of Americans are woefully under-educated about the Constitution and its principles.

One poll found two-thirds of Americans admit they don’t have a clue what our nation’s foundational document says. This extraordinary failure of our education system is having a devastating impact on our society and culture. Not understanding the basic principles of our government, its duties and the restrictions our Founding Fathers placed on it, is at least partially responsible for the mess we now have in Washington, D.C. Blame the politicians, yes. But the fact remains that as long as Americans continue to vote for people like President Barack Obama, whose vision for our nation is thoroughly alien to that which our Founders created and to what the constitution actually states — as illustrated by his vast expansion of government — we are going to continue to get what we deserve.

One simple way to reconnect with our founding principles is to read the U.S. Constitution, which we highly encourage, especially on this anniversary day each year. Click here to read it if you haven’t in a while. To see what one group is doing to improve constitutional literacy, and how you can help, click here.

Also on the front page of many newspapers today are reports that the poverty rate in the United States, to no one’s surprise, has risen. Of course, most of the articles quote left-leaning politicians or think tanks that are quick to blame the government for not doing enough to take care of people in need. Unfortunately, because so many Americans don’t know what our constitution says, or what our Founders meant by what it says, the message that “the government needs to do more” often finds support.

What the articles don’t mention is that, according to the Heritage Foundation, “since the beginning of the War on Poverty, the U.S. has spent $15.9 trillion on means-tested welfare. And today, spending on welfare programs is 13 times greater than it was in 1964.” Yet poverty continues to rise.

The articles choose to ignore the far more dramatic impact that family fragmentation and out-of-wedlock births have on poverty. For example, “children born to single mothers . . . are five times more likely to live in poverty than children born to married parents. Today, over 40 percent of children are born outside wedlock, and the numbers are particularly devastating for Hispanics (51.3 percent) and African-Americans (71.6 percent).” Marriage drops the probability of child poverty by an astonishing 82 percent.

We conservatives often are accused of focusing on “divisive” social issues such as marriage and abortion at the expense of “more important” issues like the economy and poverty. But it is, in fact, our concern about those in poverty that requires us to do more to promote and strengthen marriage. We can choose to continue down the route we’ve been following since 1964 and apply band-aid solutions after the fact, or we can do the hard work of providing the only long-range solution to poverty — stable marriages and families.

Taking a page out of the 40 Days For Life playbook — by its own admission — WeReadThe Constitution.com, a project of Let Freedom Ring, is advancing the constitutional literacy of Americans one neighborhood, one community, one city and county at a time. The organization is promoting the reading of the U.S. Constitution in groups large and small, in public places and private homes, throughout the nation on September 18, the first Saturday after Constitution Day (September 17). Its Web page includes an interactive map which locates areas where such gatherings are taking place and for people to make known their own events.

The idea is to increase its presence throughout the country each year on Constitution Day to encourage further understanding of the constitution and the limits on federal power it contains. In fact, just reading the constitution in one sitting — it takes about an hour, including all 27 amendments — makes it clear that the founding document was written to protect individual liberty by strictly limiting the authority of the national government. 

If We Read The Constitution can replicate the growth and effectiveness of what 40 Days For Life has had on the pro-life movement, where the numbers of people who silently pray in front of abortion centers for 40 days have grown exponentially over the last three years, the day will be soon when Americans will have a full understanding of the our blue print of self-governance. That, in turn, may finally lead to a Congress, courts and president that understand such limits.

Right now, there are 96 such events registered at WeReadTheConstitution.com, including six in Virginia: Alexandria, Arlington, Centreville, Gainesville, Locust Grove and Purcellville. That’s a good start, but we wish there were more and encourage Virginians to, as we did in framing the constitution, and as we are in defending it now, to lead in a rebirth of its understanding. So, if at all interested, please get involved and organize an event. With the Internet and a week still to go, it doesn’t take much to get one started — and an important movement rolling.

People interested in learning more or who want to get involved may, in addition to visiting its Web site, contact Peter Knickerbocker at 540-775-2332 or at peter@lfrusa.com for more information.

It’s bad enough when Nancy Pelosi bungles the Gospel into an incomprehensible defense of her disingenuous and destructive public policy and legislative pursuits. Anything to rationalize the righteousness of ramming through unconstitutional laws against the will of the people.

But when U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) (see LifeNews.com) invokes Jesus’ Golden Rule on the Senate floorto excuse his incomprehensible decision to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, he not only ignores his constituents (see NewsMax.com), he shirks his responsibility to the U.S. Constitution by granting someone who doesn’t believe in it as written the power to redefine America (see TheRightScoop.com). The irony of invoking Jesus to put on the Supreme Court someone who believes in partial birth abortion and who, by virtue of that position, will have a huge say in determining the legality of that infanticidal practice, is abominable. But listen closely. In untwisting his verbal pretzel, Senator Graham is really saying that we must treat Barack Obama as he would treat us. If that’s true, then surely there was no reason to vote to confirm Ms. Kagan.

His bumbling foray into non-germane, nonsensical and impromptu theology is appalling and confounding. By contrast, his South Carolina colleague, Senator Jim Demint, voted against her confirmation (Miami Herald). The blowback from this, another in a long line of disappointments from the senator, is that a primary challenge in 2014 now is more likely, according to the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza at The Fix Blog. By the way, both of Virginia’s senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, predictably, voted to confirm her.

Here’s the video, but CSNNews.com has much more:

Senator cum preacher Lindsey “Call Me Billy” Graham on the Senate floor explaining how Jesus inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court despite her disregard for constitutional principles.

U.S. Representative Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-Calif.) has been in Congress close to 40 years and is one of the most hardcore leftists in the House (see Michael Tennant at The New American). He also is known for outrageous and derogatory comments that, were he a conservative, rightly would hound him out of office (see Elisabeth Meinecke at Human Events).

Last year, at a town hall meeting, he told a constituent that, “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg.” (See YouTube.) In June, he mocked those who want the federal government to do something it is supposed to do — secure the border — by asking, “Who are you going to kill today?” (See YouTube.) Those examples only scratch the surface. He’s been known to yell at and threaten colleagues, as well. Suffice it to say, he’s an arrogant bully, who does not care about anyone but himself, his radical left-wing idealogue colleagues and far left special interest power brokers.

Then, occasionally, he speaks the truth. At least the truth as he wants it. Which is instructive in that it reveals what the Leftist Ruling Class in Washington has in store, should they continue to go unchecked. You can hear for yourself what this senior member of the House thinks about unlimited federal power, an attitude likely to mean the far-left leadership of the House is likely to continue overreaching. It also demonstrates that there’s only one way to curb this power — November is coming — as a new Rasmussen poll showed only 9 percent of Americans share Mr. Stark’s view of American governance (see Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com). 

In the video below, from a town hall meeting two weeks ago, Congressman Stark dismissed a constituent’s concern over the health care law’s expansive reach into personal lives by telling her Congress is not limited by the U.S Constitution:

Congressman Stark: We have unlimited power to do whatever we want, except that which we are supposed to do.

But Mr. Stark isn’t alone. According to the poll (see Rasmussen Reports), 54 percent of the political class align themselves with him (see Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog, here). Steve Watson of PrisonPlanet.com adds that the disconnect extends to the Health Care law, too, with 83 percent of the political class supporting it and 72 percent of voters opposing it.