This week, the House passed the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act which protects our nation’s military personnel from those seeking to take advantage of them financially.

The House also passed the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006 which funds our nation’s highways, supports aviation, addresses critical housing needs, and provides for more efficient Amtrak operations.

Freedom from the Court

On Monday, the Supreme Court muddied the water in regards to whether religious expression, namely the Ten Commandments, is allowed to be displayed on public land. In a set of confusing decisions, it ruled in favor of the public display in one case but not in another. In the case of the Texas State Capitol grounds, the court ruled in favor of the Ten Commandments saying the “neutral” display intended to honor the nation’s legal history. However, the Supreme Court ruled against the case involving the Kentucky Courthouse where the Ten Commandments were displayed as part of a larger array of documents showing the history of American law.

Both decisions were 5 to 4 rulings and did little to clear up the court’s interpretation of Americans’ religious freedoms. The conclusion was that if the Ten Commandments’ display is intended to be an acknowledgement of religion, then it is unconstitutional. However, if the display is sufficiently embedded or hidden in other historical documents then the display may stand. This legislating from the bench is yet another example which liberals will use in their quest to find God “unconstitutional.” Rather than trying to determine the original intent of a display, the Supreme Court should have examined the original intent of the Constitution and upheld the rights of all Americans to express and acknowledge religious beliefs.

I’m fed up with the liberal double standard that says our government may buy Korans for terrorists being held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but Americans may not embrace their religion or nation’s history if it invokes God or the Bible. And I’m not alone. Over 100 of my colleagues have joined me in co-sponsoring the Religious Freedom Amendment which would restore the ability to have voluntary prayer at school, display the Ten Commandments, keep “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and halt the ever-worsening trend of bad lawsuits and bad decisions that infringe on our Constitutional rights.

Eminent Domination

The Supreme Court handed down another bogus ruling this week, this time seriously endangering our personal property rights. In a ruling against several citizens from the City of New London, Connecticut, the court ruled that the government may seize private homes and transfer them to another private owner so long as the transfer would provide an economic benefit to the community. Historically, this type of “eminent domain” transfer could only be done to build a highway, park, or public hospital that could be used by the general public. However, in this case, the court redefined “public use” as “public benefit” thus allowing homes to be seized and bulldozed for a strip mall, hotel, or other private development.

Certainly this is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. With this ruling, the court has given local governments the broad power to seize property simply to generate tax revenue. This ruling strikes a blow to our personal property rights and leaves every American vulnerable to the whims of their government. As Thomas Jefferson so articulately foretold, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have.” In an effort to discourage these types of seizures, I co-sponsored a resolution this week that expressed my grave disapproval with the Supreme Court regarding this case, and I intend to do all I can to restore the personal property rights of all Americans.