Jewish Democratic senators are alarmed by conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s sympathy for basing government on Christian principles — something he expressed at a Supreme Court gala when he endorsed the idea of returning the nation to a place of “godliness.”
Democratic senators, including several Jewish lawmakers, fear that Alito’s majority opinions in several high-profile cases, including the Dobbs decision, which overturned the right to abortion, were motivated by his religious views.
And they are not buying Alito’s claim that he had nothing to do with and could not prevent the raising of an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol of the Christian nationalist movement, at his New Jersey beach house.
Senate Democrats say members of the Supreme Court have a right to religious freedom, but warn that when they try to impose their religious views on others, it crosses the line.
A Jewish Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on Alito said he is promoting a sectarian religious agenda on the court.
“I don’t think there’s really any doubt. I don’t think Alito and [conservative Justice Clarence] Thomas is being shy. They have a worldview and are trying to establish an official religion and a specific denomination,” the lawmaker said.
Five of the court’s conservative justices are Catholic and a sixth, Justice Neil Gorsuch, was raised Catholic but also attends Episcopal services.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who is Jewish, said it is alarming “when you look at Dobbs and see how the majority on the Supreme Court could disregard precedents that protect the individual against abuses of power,” including the one he called the power of “religious fundamentalism”.
He said the erosion of individual rights by the conservative majority, such as the right to abortion and potentially the right to contraception or same-sex marriage, is especially concerning “for those of us who have different religious views.”
“I worry that when we have these fundamentalist views that we are a Christian state, when we are not a Christian state, minority religions will be in trouble,” he said.
Cardin said “the tendency of this court” is “you see four or five justices who seem to be pretty determined to have an agenda that takes us in the wrong direction.”
“When I’m in a meeting, in a public meeting, I don’t particularly want to hear government officials supporting one religion over another. And I belong to a minority religion, being Jewish, so I want to make sure there’s not an expansion into that,” he said.
Cardin said he is often invited to churches as a senator and doesn’t mind being in the middle of Christian worship, “but I don’t want our government to do that.”
Alito found himself embroiled in controversy again after he was recorded telling a liberal activist at a Supreme Court gala that he agreed the country needed to return “to a place of godliness.” The activist posed as a conservative and Alito did not know he was being recorded.
The recording became public just days after The New York Times reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which has become a symbol of Christian nationalism, was displayed at his New Jersey beach house.
Alito explained in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that his wife flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag on their property and insisted that he “had no involvement in the decision to raise this flag.”
He also said he “wasn’t familiar with the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag when my wife flew it.”
But Democratic senators are skeptical of that claim in light of Alito’s expressed sympathy for returning the nation to a place of “godliness,” as well as his opinion in Dobbs and other high-profile cases centered on religious conflicts.
“I think there is a far-right group that is exploiting religion for a political agenda that is anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-science and that wants to roll back our essential constitutional rights and is exploiting all institutions, be it the Supreme Court or Congress, to advance that agenda,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who is Jewish, when asked about the rise of Christian nationalism on the right and the display of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag. ” in Alito Estate.
“I’m not sure many of the religious leaders in this country realize how potentially damaging this is to democracy,” he said.
Blumenthal said he was concerned that Alito’s biggest decisions have blurred the line between church and state.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” he said. “The founders of our Constitution came to this country or are descended from people who made the journey here because they wanted to be free from the government telling them what their faith and religious beliefs should be.”
Blumenthal emphasized that he is “a person of faith and I respect other people’s faith,” but said that “promoting one faith over another or discriminating against any faith is abhorrent and repugnant and should never be part of any law in this country.”
“My hope is that Alito and others who seem to share the vision that they want to transform this nation into a country that reflects only one faith will be rejected by the vast majority of Americans,” he said.
Another Democratic senator, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), pushed back against Alito’s claim that Congress does not have the power to regulate the Supreme Court.
“He is reading the Constitution selectively,” he said, arguing that “we could in fact require some basic ethics disclosure like any other federal employee.
“These guys think they are nine unelected clergy who decide everything for the rest of us,” he said.
Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, a strictly nonpartisan group that represents 850 Reform congregations across the country, said Alito’s statements and conduct have sparked alarm among Jews across the country.
“What I hear from my congregants is a real concern,” he said. “When the State gets involved in religious issues, it ruins them. They should stay outside the walls of our synagogues and our mosques.
“By and large, it’s the kind of white Christian tradition that asserts itself in the public square and then all minorities suffer,” he said. “What I hear from my congregants is a real concern about this growing trend of white Christian nationalism.”
A Pew Research Center survey of more than 7,166 voters released on June 6 found that 6 in 10 white evangelical Protestants who support Trump said the government should support religious values and beliefs. And the poll found that 69 percent of Trump supporters said the Bible should have some influence on U.S. laws, with 36 percent saying it should have “great” influence.
Reports of Alito’s desire for the nation to return to “godliness” and the “Call to Heaven” banner have placed new scrutiny on his Alito majority views in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 abortion rights case, and Burwell v. Lobbying, when the court in 2014 recognized a company’s right to deny employees contraceptive health coverage.
Another decision being analyzed is Alito’s 2019 opinion in American Legion v. American Humanist Association, in which seven justices ruled that a 40-foot cross honoring soldiers killed in World War I could remain on state land in Bladensburg, Maryland.
Alito argued before the court that although the cross is a symbol of Christianity, there are “many contexts in which the symbol has also taken on a secular meaning” and “instances in which its message is now almost entirely secular,” citing its use as a secular symbol. registered trademark of Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Bayer group as examples.
Alito has spoken on numerous occasions about what he considers to be the threat that government expansion poses to religious freedom.
Speaking in Rome after he wrote the Dobbs decision, Alito warned: “Religious freedom is under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to wield total power.”
And he told Ohio Franciscan University graduates last month that their religious freedom is “in danger.”
“When you venture out into the world, you may very well find yourself in a job, community, or social environment where you will be pressured to endorse ideas you do not believe in, or to abandon fundamental beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm,” he said.
But critics of Alito’s decisions say they threaten the very religious freedom he seeks to defend.
“Everyone in this country, whether Christian, non-religious or non-religious, should be alarmed when one of the highest-ranking jurists in the country rejects the church-state separation, which is a bedrock of our democracy,” said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
“We are witnessing the rise of Christian nationalism,” she said, describing it as a reaction to “the first black president, black and female vice president, to marriage equality, to the Me Too movement, to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
