Tuesday is the day the entire country bows its head and grovels in front of the great Anthony Kennedy, the black robed overlord of all things legal. Ladies and gentleman, it is Anthony Kennedy’s world and we’re just living in it.
Sure, we still teach our children that we live in a republic (tee-hee) but the truth is that the legislative branch, fearful of taking on difficult issues for fear of political ramifications, has allowed the judiciary to become the law-making branch of the government. And good news, just to make things simple, the judiciary has also taken it upon itself to counter pretty much everything the president says as well. So the three party system has become a one-stop shopping for power. But wait, it gets even better!
Since lower level courts rule any damn way they please, it’s typically eventually up to the Supreme Court to bequeath their fiat upon the riff-raff (you and me). And as we all know that means Anthony Kennedy gets to have his say. With four (sorta’) reliable conservative judges (heavy on the sorta’) and four absolutely dependable liberal justices, it all comes down to Kennedy.
And so this week, the guy who gave us gay marriage is going to rule on whether a Christian baker can refuse to take part in a same-sex marriage. This is a huge case and the fate of religious liberty in this country hangs in the balance. And we live in a country where one man gets to make that choice for us. And clearly, we wouldn’t want that one man to be the actual baker, Jack Phillips, to decide his own conscience for himself. No. No. No. Anthony Kennedy will decide his conscience for him. He’s that awesome.
I interviewed Jack Phillips in my book “Faith Under Fire: Dramatic Stories of Christian Courage.” He couldn’t have been a nicer or kinder man. To me, he couldn’t have been more in love with God. But I’ll let Anthony Kennedy be the judge.
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