The Last Word

I realize that this might not be the most current news, but it’s just something I have to get off my chest. It’s a matter of justice not being served.

“What is justice?” asks David A. Noebel in Understanding the Times. “E. Calvin Bresiner says justice and truth are interrelated, for justice is the practice of truth in human relationships; he concludes that ‘justice is rendering to each his due according to a right standard.’

HSLDA / Art Cox J. Michael Smith, President, Home School Legal Defense Association

... IF WE WANT TO PRESERVE OUR FREEDOM, WE … HAVE TO BE COMMITTED TO JUSTICE. ...

“Most everyone believes that furthering justice is an important task of the state, but the Christian sees justice as the principle reason for the state’s existence. Such a view of justice can follow only from a view grounded on an absolute guarantor of unalienable rights. Because the Christian view is based on such a foundation, promoting justice becomes more important than any other aspect of government.”¹

Almost two years ago, as you may recall, President George W. Bush nominated one of HSLDA’s board members, Richard Honaker of Wyoming, to serve as a United States District Court judge in Wyoming. About nine months ago, we encouraged you to submit comments to your senators asking them to confirm Richard.

However, the Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by the Democrats, refused to bring Richard up for a vote.

Unfortunately, we have to report that Richard will not be confirmed as a U.S. District Court judge, because his nomination died at the end of President Bush’s second term.

This is an extreme injustice. Richard Honaker was one of the most highly qualified individuals nominated by President Bush to be a U.S. District Court judge. He is the only lawyer in Wyoming who has served as president of both the Wyoming State Bar and the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association. He currently represents Wyoming on the National Board of American Trial Advocates.

Based on information gathered from 50 Wyoming lawyers and judges, the American Bar Association, an association that independently evaluates judicial nominees, found Richard Honaker well-qualified in three specific areas: professional competence, integrity, and judicial temperament.

So what could possibly have held up Richard’s confirmation? Special interest groups concerned with essentially one issue: abortion.

You see, Richard Honaker is pro-life. As a Democratic member of the Wyoming legislature in 1991–92, he sponsored a pro-life bill, similar to bills being introduced in many states at that time.

He was also criticized for a 1992 talk to a group of homeschoolers in Wyoming, in which he cited the Judeo-Christian heritage of America’s political and legal institutions as both a fact and benefit to our country. He has expressed his concern that the U.S. Supreme Court had gone overboard in applying its “neutrality test,” thereby justifying discrimination against certain religious groups, such as Christians.

As a result of these stands and positions, thousands of emails were directed toward the senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, protesting Richard’s nomination and demanding that it be blocked. Unfortunately, the views of these dissidents had more impact on some members of the Judiciary Committee than the need to have well-qualified judges in our federal district courts. Politics won out over competency. Bias won out over impartiality.

Our Founding Fathers never intended for the Senate to be able to block qualified judges. The Constitution says that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint … Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for …”²

Unfortunately, there are senators on the Judiciary Committee who believe that judges should legislate their personal political opinions from the bench, and those nominees that they agree with are the only ones that are going to be confirmed. This has turned confirmation of judges into a political debate over ideas, which will do enormous harm to our nation’s judicial system. We will continue to see competent nominees turned down because they don’t share the political views of those currently in power. This state of affairs imperils the separation of power essential to the American constitutional design for liberty and self-government. Judges are supposed to interpret the law, not make the law.

This has been a very difficult time for Richard Honaker and his family. And, because we at HSLDA have known Richard for 20 years and respect him so highly, this has been a difficult time for us as well. However, the principles at stake are far more important than the failure of his nomination.

If this pattern continues, the “politics of personal destruction” will play right into the hands of the special interest groups bent on proving to their donors that they can control the votes of politicians in Washington, while inflicting punishment upon those who seek to uphold the Constitution.

Over the next few months, the nomination process on Capitol Hill is going to heat up. It will be interesting to see which nominees are confirmed or denied.

If we want to preserve our freedom, we as homeschoolers have to be committed to justice, and as a nation, we need to start electing senators who will adhere to justice as well.

In the meantime, we are encouraged by Richard Honaker’s response when asked, “How do you not get bitter about this?”

In the process of returning to his private law practice in Wyoming, he simply says, “God is sovereign, and all things work for the good of those that love God and are called according to His purpose. It will be exciting to see what He has for me in the future.”

Endnotes

1. David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times (Manitou Springs: Summit Ministries, 1995), 298.

2. 2 U.S. Const. art. II, § 2.