The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate floor. The vote was 12 in favor and 10 no-shows, with Democrats boycotting the meeting in an attempt to sabotage establishing a quorum.
The full Senate begins considering her nomination today. They are expected to continue through the weekend and vote Monday.
“I hope you look back at this time on the committee and say I was there when it mattered. And you were,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham after the panel voted to advance Barrett’s nomination.
“We look forward to Judge Amy Coney Barrett to soon become Justice Barrett. President Trump made an impeccable choice by nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill this historic seat as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver. “She will serve our nation well as an originalist who applies the intent and text of the Constitution and the laws she reviews.”
Barrett is supported by conservatives and commonly recognized as a Constitutionalist, someone who will render decisions based on the Constitution rather than lean on changing the Constitution. Research by the American Family Association reviews key decisions by Barrett, which includes statements from her decisions in lower courts, such as: “I tend to agree with those who say that a justice’s duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks clearly in conflict with it.”
Throughout the hearings, Barrett’s faith has been a sticking point for liberals. She is part of the charismatic renewal movement with the Catholic Church. Her “covenant community” is called People of Praise. While she’s maintained that she will rule based on how the Constitution best applies to the individual cases she’ll hear, Barrett has previously stated that abortion deals with the life of a child. Most of the antagonism against her is based on the future standing of Roe v. Wade.
Celebrating Barrett’s Wins
Persecution while a judge isn’t new to Judge Vance Day. In 2014, before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing gay marriage in the United States, Day quietly decided to no longer perform weddings as a justice of the peace. He told his staff he would finish out what was already scheduled, but to refer all couples to other judges.
The firestorm that followed ultimately led to a level of persecution Day considers nothing but cancel-culture.
Although charges were dismissed and he was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, Day is no longer a judge. After being asked to resign because he would perform gay marriages and indicted, he decided not to run for reelection. It changed his life forever.
The fundamental divide comes in how justices, elected officials and citizens at large view the Constitution—Americans “liberty of conscience” comes from God, not from the Constitution, said Day. God cannot just be rewritten and overruled.
Day’s right to not perform gay marriage, as it was not a requirement to his job, was a decision me made out of his liberty of conscience.
“Our liberty of conscience rights, as well as our various rights that the Constitution identifies and protects in all 10 amendments are inalienable and “if inalienable, our duty belongs to God not to civil society.”
“If our Creator is the one who gave them to us,” he said, “then our Creator is the only one who can take them away from us.”
The Healing Process
While some anger has surfaced as he watched the hearings, based on what he sees as a lack of justice on the part of himself and his family, Day is encouraged to see Barrett advance toward becoming a Supreme Court justice.
“I can’t help but find solace when the Constitution functions as it should and the purveyors of political manipulation are stopped,” he said. “People shouldn’t use their power to manipulate the Constitution to gain more power. This renews my faith in our Constitutional system.”
As Barrett can now stand back and await the anticipated vote to confirm her appointment, Day is serving as president of Promise Keepers. He pours his life into helping men arise to serve God, their families and society boldly and biblically.
And whether a Supreme Court judge, a circuit court judge, taxi driver, minister or secretary, people face tests and trials. Day has learned to face and embrace them to get the best view of what God can do.
“I want to see things the way the Holy Spirit sees them, not the way Vance Day sees them,” he said. I’m not fearful of what man can do to me, at least most of the time. Every great warrior in Scripture was trained in the desert. And that means that when we have a wilderness experience, it’s a gift, not a sentence.”
As America awaits the Senate vote, the laws of the land, the lives of children, the makeup of marriages and freedoms are not all that’s being impacted. The hearts of persecuted Christians are preparing to rejoice. {eoa}
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