Over the last 40 years, activist judges have taken on a role in our culture the Founding Fathers never meant for them to have – that of a super-legislature, a place where activists of any political persuasion can petition when they cannot achieve their goals through the democratic process. Since the 1960s, activist judges have taken prayer out of public schools, permitted abortion on demand, radically re-defined marriage, stripped public lands and public ceremonies of religious content and authorized the seizure of private property for the benefit of wealthy developers.

The power of the judicial branch of government is alarming. It has become a dominant force, which it was never intended to be. Our Founding Fathers created a separation of powers among our three branches of government, to keep us from being tyrannized by one of the other branches.

Today, too many judges are striking down laws passed by the legislative branch based on their interpretation of what is right and wrong. At this point, they have ultimate control – and the people have no voice because the judges have become the ultimate authority.

Under our Constitution, Congress has both the authority and responsibility to rein in the courts. These measures have been set in place to eliminate activist judges from imposing their will without proper representation of the people and the legislators they elected. As long as Christians sit idly by and allow black-robed activist judges to tear away at our moral foundations, they will shape our culture as they see fit.

Christians have an obligation to monitor the judiciary and protest loudly when judges step outside their constitutionally mandated role of interpreters of the law. We also favor legislative remedies to judicial activism, both in the form of corrective laws following outrageous court decisions and in statutes that set appropriate limits on what the courts may and may not rule upon.