The 3 - November 5, 2017

In this week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, there is a development in the implementation of President Trump's reverting to previous military policy on transgender members: a judge has put part of it on hold.  Also, a California law that forced pro-life pregnancy center to make references for abortions has been struck down by a judge there. And, a prospective judge whose religious beliefs were questioned in a U.S. Senate committee meeting has received confirmation.

3 - Parts of President's policy on transgender individuals in military put on hold

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration reinstituted a ban, that had been removed by the Obama White House, on transgender individuals serving in the military.  Recently, one Federal judge put parts of that policy by the current Administration on hold.

According to Family Research Council, the decision rendered by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly "was amazingly presumptuous for an unelected district judge, who -- without the benefit of internal intelligence, the service chiefs' counsel, and Defense Department data -- is quite content telling the White House how to defend America."

Recent guest on The Meeting House, Travis Weber, an attorney for FRC, was quoted on the organization's website, stating: "This type of judicial activism gives the court a self-conferred 'veto' of any presidential decision concerning the military the court simply thinks is unlawful. That's not the way our constitutional order works." He added, "This kind of judicial presumption is doubly harmful when done in the military context..."

The FRC piece continues:

Kollar-Kotelly seems to think the military is just your run-of-the-mill office environment -- when in fact, it's a physically-demanding, life-threatening battleground. The goal isn't to advance "tolerance" or help people on the path to self-actualization. It's to fight and win wars. And that mission is severely compromised when activist courts try to force the military into accepting unstable recruits in the name of "fairness."

2 - Judge proclaims CA law forcing pro-life centers to provide abortion clinic information unconstitutional

A chilling law in California that attempted to force pregnancy resource centers, whose mission it is to save the lives of pre-born children, to let clients know they are eligible for free or low-cost abortions has been declared unconstitutional by a state court judge.

The American Center for Law and Justice said that the law, the Reproductive FACT Act...

...requires that licensed pregnancy centers inform their clients that might be eligible for a free or low-cost abortion—no matter the reason for their visit. The mandated notice not only forces pro-life centers to tell their clients about these state-funded services, the centers must also share with their clients a telephone number where they can obtain more information about the possibility of obtaining a free (taxpayer expense paid) abortion.

The ACLJ website stated that: "Judge Gloria Trask of Riverside County Superior Court ruled that the FACT Act violates the California Constitution’s guarantee of free speech."  The judge, in her ruling, wrote:

[The State] may enact law that support abortion access and tax its citizens to make abortion available. It can require informed consent for all medical procedures. But its ability to impress free citizens into State service in this political dispute cannot be absolute; it must be limited. . . .

The statute compels the clinic to speak words with which it profoundly disagrees when the State has numerous alternative methods of publishing its message.

1 - Senate approves judicial nominee who was asked religious questions

Remember the Federal court judicial nominee who was told by Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a hearing that "the dogma lives loudly within you?"  That was a critique of Amy Coney Barrett's religious beliefs, and CBN News reported about that hearing:

Barrett is a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and a mother of seven. She has written about religion's place in public life and given lectures before Christian legal groups.

In September, Feinstein, D-Calif., told Barrett, "When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for, for years in this country."

According to CBN News, the U.S. Senate, after a number of senators had said their colleague had crossed a line, has approved Barrett's appointment to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  The CBN article quoted Eric Metaxas, who is heard on the Colson Center's Breakpoint commentary:

"To me the idea that US senators are this ignorant about this incredibly, utterly central element in American freedom, I find frightening and it should be a wakeup call to everybody," Metaxas told CBN News. "When Sen. Feinstein did this recently, I thought, 'She actually thinks that what she's saying is okay. She thinks it's just politics.' It's not just politics. It's fundamentally unconstitutional."

Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor with The Catholic Association, agrees with Metaxas, saying the senators should know better than to give a nominee a religious litmus test.