President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court reforms called an “assault on the constitutional order”

President Joe Biden’s proposed changes to the US Supreme Court are continuing to generate headlines. He outlined his proposals in a Washington Post op-ed:

• The US president would appoint a justice every two years to spend eighteen years in active service on the Court. (The Constitution gives all federal judges lifetime tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed.)
• He is “calling for a binding code of conduct” for the Court. (The Court adopted such a code last year, but it presently has no outside means of enforcement.)
• He proposes a constitutional amendment that would “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.” (His proposal must receive support from two-thirds of both the House and Senate, then be ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures.)

The Wall Street Journal editorial board called his proposals “an assault on judicial independence and the constitutional order,” warning that they would lead to a “deluge of ethics complaints” against the Court and would subject its appointments even more to the vagaries of presidential elections. The National Review went further, calling Mr. Biden’s op-ed “the most dangerous policy proposal by an American president since the Second World War.”

If you are a political conservative, you likely agree with these responses. You’re pleased with the status quo because it produced the current six-to-three conservative justice majority, and you’re especially grateful that this majority overturned Roe v. Wade.

But let me ask you: What if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election and went on to nominate liberals to the three openings Donald Trump filled, giving the Court a six-to-three liberal majority? Would you then be more open to term limits? To conduct enforcement?

“The government you elect is the government you deserve”

This week, we’ve been discussing ways to join God in bringing about the kind of moral transformation our culture desperately needs. Today, let’s consider an observation I heard the esteemed former Congressman Frank Wolf share years ago: in a democracy, politics are downstream from culture.

In our form of government, our leaders reflect the values and wishes of those who elected them, for better or for worse. This is not necessarily true in other political systems. I’ve been to Cuba many times over the years, for example, and can testify that the people I know there are far more moral than their Communist oppressors.

But in a democratic republic, Thomas Jefferson was right: “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

It is, therefore, unsurprising to me that President Biden wants to reform the Court because some of its recent rulings have not aligned with his and his party’s ideology. His politics are downstream from his cultural agendas. If the situation were reversed, I suspect a Republican president might offer a similar response.

But if politics are downstream from culture, what is culture downstream from?

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around”

The Cambridge Dictionary defines culture as “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time.” Mark Victor Hansen takes a step further: “Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results.”

So, if we change a people’s beliefs, we change their customs and actions. And when we change their customs, we change their culture.

How can this work for the cause of Christ?

The first Christians lived in an ungodly culture far more opposed to their faith than ours. They were rejected by the Jewish authorities and persecuted by the Romans. They had nothing like the religious freedoms we enjoy. And yet they birthed a spiritual movement that numbers more than two billion today. Centuries after the Roman Empire fell, the church continues to advance.

Their secret? With their words and their works, they pointed people to Jesus:

• Peter responded to the Pentecost miracle by proclaiming the risen Lord, and three thousand were saved (Acts 2:22–24, 32–41).
• When the crowds were astonished at the healing of a lame man beside the temple, Peter explained that “the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16).
• When the apostles “were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2), “many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand” (v. 4).
• When the apostles were then arrested, Peter told the authorities that “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well” (v. 11).

I could go on. Early believers then demonstrated the reality and relevance of their faith by their character, courage, and compassion.

Throughout Christian history, whenever God’s people point people to God, beliefs change. Then customs change. Then culture changes.

Henry David Thoreau claimed, “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” Here’s the actual truth:

“Live your beliefs and Jesus can turn the world around.”

“Look Who has come to the world”

Dr. Duane Brooks is the outstanding pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston and my longtime friend. In his daily devotional yesterday, he quoted missionary E. Stanley Jones:

The early Christians succeeded because they did not lower their heads in despair and say, “Look what the world has come to.” Instead, they lifted their eyes in delight and said, “Look Who has come to the world.”

Which response to our fallen culture will you choose today?

News to know:

• Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in Iran by an alleged Israeli strike, threatening escalation
• Israel says top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr killed in airstrike in Beirut suburb
• Simone Biles, US win women’s team gymnastics gold at Olympics
• North Korea’s Kim preparing daughter as next leader: Seoul
• On this day in 1566: Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, dies

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The only way to drive out bad culture is to create good culture.” —C. S. Lewis