The Papists are coming! The Papists are coming!

With the recent SCOTUS nomination of Judge Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court now stands at an interesting point in history. If Alito is confirmed (which, by all the rights, equity, and fairness under God he should be...), there will be 5 Catholics on the Supreme Court--for the first time ever, we will hold a majority.

This is big stuff. I mean, for Catholics, it's sort of like a big-time arrival. Where's the Know Nothing party now? But there are still those who would want to call us "odd", "out of the mainstream", "extremist" (is any of this ringing a bell?) and they're doing all they can to make sure an eminently qualified jurist like Alito doesn't get the nod, because, y'know, us Catholics are just crazy folks!

I'm not saying the opposition is only focused on him because he's Catholic; they are some rather "famous" (infamous?) Catholics (or CINOs, as I've called them elsewhere on this blog). They're against him because he's a *good* Catholic. You know, in line with the Church, believing what we believe. The press was all over this today when it came out that Alito does not think abortion is a right supported by the constitution. Well, for anyone who has taken Con Law 101, this is pretty obvious. Even for those of the U.S. population that haven't, it's pretty obvious. I mean, just read the fourteenth amendment sometime, and see if anywhere in there you see a line about the right to kill your child. Not only is Judge Alito's opinion legally sound, it's morally sound. Chief Justice Roberts is also personally against abortion, and has written some good works about this. But his record isn't quite as openly pro-life; he just hasn't been writing opinions as long as Alito has, and I don't think he's quite as open as Alito is (or Alito's mother; the day after the nomination she told the press, "Of course Sam is pro-life!"). But if he was a good pick (which he was), Alito is excellent. Catholic, conservative, a constructionist (meaning he doesn't look for rights in the Constitution but interprets what's actually there). A judge could be pro-life and still make a pro-choice ruling based solely on the evidence presented. Judges aren't judged (OK, sorry) the same way politicians are. When Catholic politicians vote for pro-abortion legislation, they're violating the laws of the Church. As Catholics we cannot support/condone anything that goes against Church law (even if it's not infalliably defined). Sen. Kerry, Kennedy, et al. are voting against what they're supposed to believe. Faith is lived in our every day lives. As Catholics, they should know this. But they just don't seem to get it. And the idea of their strongest constituency--the pro-choicers--leaving them instills them with more terror than what will happen to them because of their voting record later. "One cannot serve God and mammon," Jesus said. But some of them would like to try!

It's heartening to see a good jurist and a good Catholic up for such an important position. I thank Pres. Bush for nominating him, along with C.J. Roberts, and appellate court judge William Meyers, evidence that Catholics can contribute great things to our political life without B XVI building a Vatican II on the banks of the Potomac. (Do non-Catholics seriously think that this would ever happen, anyway? I can't imagine the Cardinal of Washington being too thrilled with it.)

Support the Alito nomination, and remember that a lot of the fear-mongering you are seeing--and will see--on the news is just that. The Vatican's not coming over here, the Catholics are not taking over the world. But good conservative Catholic values on our nation's highest court would do this nation a good service, I believe--and so do a lot of others.