It is not news that many conservatives are reluctant to support Donald Trump for president. There are many neverTrump conservatives that will under no circumstance support a man that is neither conservative nor civil for the office of president. There are many conservatives that are ardently in support of Trump, though they claim to see his flaws. Often their argument follows one of two vectors: choose the lesser of two evils or choose Trump because of the Supreme Court. At this time I will address the second vector: the Supreme Court nomination gambit.
According to Trump supporters, we must back Trump because he has promised to choose conservative Justices. There is currently one vacancy on the Supreme Court and it is likely that the next president will have to replace at least one, if not two, more justices. If Clinton is elected she will place the most liberal judges on the Court and doom our society to an ever increasing descent into socialism, lawlessness, and chaos. The fact that the Senate has to confirm any nominations is totally left out of the debate, though the Senate has been fairly weak on this point in recent years. Trump's pick of the conservative Justices is the only hope to end abortion, repeal Obamacare, outlaw gay marriage, protect religious liberty, and ensure the American way of life.
There are several problems with this line of thought. First, do you really trust Trump to follow through? Campaign promises are as legitimate as three dollar bills. Trump's track record does not portray an honest individual and even Trump supporters have to admit that his character is questionable. There is no guarantee that he will honor his promise on the Judges. In fact, if he feels that conservatives have betrayed him he may well counterpunch with a liberal nomination to punish the perceived insult. Second, Trump doesn't understand the conservative perspective and can only guess as to what a conservative Justice looks like. He may have help in picking a conservative judge, but he is not surrounding himself with conservatives. He has clearly stated that it is the Republican party, not the conservative party (and the Republican convention has endorsed this statement). The neverTrump conservatives never trusted him in the first place, so why would they trust him on this pivotal point?
However, there is a more fundamental issue at stake with this argument that betrays a less than conservative approach to government. The Supreme Court has grown into the final arbiter of all legal and moral issues. If the Supreme Court says it, it is a settled issue. If Congress can't agree on an issue, they will let the court decide the matter. Certain Republican Senators did not want to attempt any repeal of the Health Care Act because they feared it would hurt them in an election. Instead, they wanted the Supreme Court to deal with it. The Supreme Court, though, did not rule as they wanted. And since the Court has ruled, many view it as a done deal. This is not how the Founders intended the Court to work. Laws are supposed to be established by the Congress. The only time the Supreme Court should enter the process is if there is the possibility that a law has violated the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court has become a second avenue for the losing side in contentious legislation. The minority in Congress may not be able to stop or pass a bill, but they can try to forward their agenda through a Supreme Court case. If the Congress properly executes its responsibilities and obligations, then the Supreme Court should have little or no involvement in the establishment of legislation.
Unfortunately, many conservatives have forgotten this fundamental principle and desire to use the Supreme Court when they can't advance their agenda through Congress. Placing this much trust in the Court is neither conservative nor wise. The Court doesn't always get things right. When a law is ruled unconstitutional, Congress should immediately revisit that law to fix their errors, but they should not accept any attempt to thwart their Constitutional duty through the Court.
I understand the allure of relying on the Court. With the right case and right Justices, we could overturn Roe v. Wade and end abortion without having to pass a contentious law. That simply won't work. I am opposed to abortion, but relying on the courts has never worked in favor of life and never will. Our focus should be changing the moral views of our society to the point that the demand for abortion becomes a rarity. That is hard work and at times appears impossible, but shortcuts have never worked in the moral landscape of America. Additionally, Republican presidents have appointed judges that were supposedly conservative, but those Justices have turned about to be more moderate than anticipated. The appointment of Supreme Court justices is always a wild card and you never really know how they are going to vote until they actually vote.
To sum it all up: placing all our hope in the Supreme Court is neither conservative nor wise, even if we could trust Trump to choose a Justice.
