The ACLU’s Worst Nightmare

It is appropriate that the Louisiana Legislature passed a resolution urging Congress to enact the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005 [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:s520is.txt.pdf] at the same time that a national survey was released indicating that Americans view religion as being under attack in America.  According to the poll American Attitudes Toward Religion In the Public Square, sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, 64% of those surveyed agreed with the statement that “religion is under attack” in America. Only 32% disagreed with that statement. Among those who consider themselves fundamentalist / evangelical / charismatic Christians, the result rose to 80%.
The unanimous Senate Concurrent Resolution 30 [http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=327668] by Mike Smith (Democrat, Winnfield), first of its kind in the nation, finds that “… the federal judiciary has overstepped its constitutional boundaries and ruled against the acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, and government by local and state officers and other state institutions, including state schools….”  SCR 30 concludes by urging Congress “to adopt S520 and HR1070, the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005 and in doing so protecting the ability of the people of Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in public places, to express their faith in public, to retain God in the Pledge of Allegiance, to retain ‘In God We Trust’ as our national motto, and to use Article III, Section 2.2 of the United States Constitution to except these areas from the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.”
One practical effect of passing the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005 would be to remove from the jurisdiction of federal judges such as the one in New Orleans who is a former ACLU State President and recently ruled in favor of the ACLU regarding its challenge to Tangipahoa Parish School Board’s policy of opening their meetings in prayer.  Can you imagine any deliberative body in America more in need of prayer than a public school board?
Some of Louisiana’s congressional delegation (Rodney Alexander, Bobby Jindal, David Vitter) but not all, are co-authors of the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005.  Now would be an exceptionally good time to urge the remainder to stand for traditional values where it will make a difference.  This legislation truly is the ACLU’s worst nightmare.