A group of 106 clergymen sent an open letter to Ohio legislators, urging them to stop “judicial prejudice directed against citizens of faith” and judiciary overreach.
The group, which the Richland Community Prayer Network organized, sent the May 20 letter to coincide with the Christian commemoration of the Day of Pentecost. It is unconstitutional for non-elected federal judges to strike down state laws, especially with regard to religious liberty, the clergymen argued in the letter and objected to federal court rulings being interpreted as the “law of the land.” They cited as an example Federal Court Judge Timothy Black’s March ruling in which he struck down an Ohio law that outlawed aborting based solely for having Down syndrome, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Why have a Legislature when one elected judge can strike down any law that does not fit his political agenda? Unaccountable judges in the Federal court system have suppressed the voices of freedom in our nation — starting with people of religious conviction. Judicial supremacy has ultimately created a culture of dictatorship,” said Rev. J.C. Church, Leading Pastor of Victory in Truth Ministries and a Director with the Family Research Council, in the press release.
Five of the clergymen also held a press conference on May 18 during which they read the letter and decried what they called “Down syndrome genocide.” Fusion Community Church’s Reverend Aaron Rose attended the press conference with his 10-year-old son, Kaleb, who was diagnosed from birth with Down syndrome.
“Today, I stand not just for my son but for the voiceless who may never be given a chance to breathe air. Our quality of life as a family has increased ten-fold because of our son. I would not change one thing about my son, Kaleb,” Rose said during the press conference.
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Black had a conflict of interest in the case and should have recused himself in light of the fact he once worked as a Planned Parenthood director, the pastors also alleged. That case, they claimed, is only one of many in which federal judges struck down laws according to alleged personal agendas. The group cited Supreme Court rulings against faculty-led Bible readings in public schools and against requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in public schools as examples of such overreach. (RELATED: The Government Is One Step Closer To Defunding Planned Parenthood)
“Absent of any constitutionality, these 600 unelected bureaucrats are silencing voters by establishing their own court opinions as law of the land, and micromanaging public policy against the will of the governed,” the letter reads.
Such cases show the federal government has allowed the judiciary to become a “Federal Court Tyranny” and urged lawmakers to put a stop to it, the clergymen claimed.
Rev. J.C. Church could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
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