Bachmann adds Sekulow to list of constitution class teachers
Tuesday, February 01, 2011 at 3:02 pm
- 10 Comments
Rep. Michele Bachmann has added religious right attorney Jay Sekulow to her list of instructors at her Tea Party Caucus constitutional classes. Sekulow is the head of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative religious law group televangelist Pat Robertson founded because he thought the American Civil Liberties Union was “hostile to traditional American values.” Sekulow joins Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and controversial history revisionist David Barton as an invitee of Bachmann to teach the courses.
Sekulow got his start by founding Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE) in 1990 to ensure the religious right has a voice in court cases involving the separation of church and state and abortion cases.
“I look for every opportunity God gives me in the courtroom to share the gospel,” he once said, adding that the religious right has a “cultural mandate” to change society in God’s image. “By whatever ethical means necessary, we need to engage in this struggle,” he said.
Sekulow’s work has come under some criticism from the legal community who see his legal empire as a way to support his “high-flying lifestyle.”
According to a 2005 profile in Legal Times, “Sekulow, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle — complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”
Bachmann was on Sekulow’s radio show on Thursday and invited him to teach her courses, according to People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch:
Bachmann: Our opening speaker was Justice Antonin Scalia. We had both Democrats and Republicans – we had four Democrat members of Congress. It was very civil, it was very open and we hope to invite all of the Supreme Court Justices to come and speak to us. But we also hope to have people like yourself, Jay – we’ve invited you to come and speak to members of Congress, to speak about the Constitution. The topic will be up to the speakers choice but the whole purpose and intent is to have members thinking about the Constitution and our limitations under the Constitution. That has not been a focus here in Congress in recent years. We intend to change that and this was a very good first meeting this week.
Sekulow: I look forward to participating [and] we appreciate you’re not only representing the people of your district, you’re representing all of use that share the concerns and the desire to see Constitutional Conservatism placed forward and Congresswoman, thanks for being with us and thanks for the bold stand you are taking in Washington.
Bachmann: Thank you. You’re wonderful and thank you for your ministry.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter10 Comments
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 4:31 pm
“Sekulow’s work has come under some criticism from the legal community who see his legal empire as a way to support his “high-flying lifestyle.”
lol. You’re only allowed to be a rich lawyer if you worship on Saturday and/or vote democrat.
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 7:51 pm
wow dennis what are you not a bigot against? Anti-Semite as well!
If you are not a white, extremist, biblical Literalist, male, straight, born in the usa, I guess your nothing.
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 9:18 pm
That’s amusing. I get labeled a bigot for pointing out the bigotry.
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 9:24 pm
honestly? you really think that saying a rich lawyer that worships on a saturday or votes democrat doesn’t have a anti-semite connotation wow. WOW
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
Marie, it is more productive to focus on the issue even as Dennis does his best as a lightning rod to distract us from the dialogue that needs to happen. Easier said than done, but it can be done. You know why? In the long run, Dennis (and certain others as well) doesn’t really matter. At. All.
Comment posted February 1, 2011 @ 10:07 pm
Marie,
Dennis has referred to Minneapolis area residents as “subhuman” (if I recall correctly), by which he appeared to be referring to non-what, non-Christian people. The recent story about the lesbian couple in an Anoka county high school elicited the phrase “cesspool.” He’s not sure if all Somali immigrants are terrorists or not.
Lane is correct. Dennis isn’t interested in rational dialogue, because he’s largely incapable of it. His mind appears to be a roiling cauldron of prejudice, race/religion hatred, slogans and plain doltish nonsense.
We should be using this comments section for mutual education and edification.
Comment posted February 2, 2011 @ 4:28 am
Marie, you may not find it offensive that a lawyer’s financial success is criticized because of his work as a Christian, but I do.
Comment posted February 2, 2011 @ 9:53 am
@ Eric
Thank you for reminder that I personally got my buttons pushed and I responded to the bigotry and not the subject at hand. I shouldn’t be surprised that if one is a bigot in one area, that they are in all areas.
I am personally happy to have a place that open minded, equality, and justice oriented news is placed. We might hear the extreme right using the slogan or para phase of liberal media all the time, but today as I was trying to search for a non preaching religious based talk station, I was reminded there are like two “liberal media based” amongst the thousands of extreme right winged media sources.
Comment posted February 2, 2011 @ 11:15 am
He’s being criticized for bring religion, any religion, into our laws and courts. Breaking down the wall of separation for Christians opens the door just as wide for Sharia law, or Hasidic law, or any other religion that would happen to be in power.
Comment posted February 4, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
It is quite frightening to me that both he (Sekulow) and David Barton have such close ties to Pat Robertson.
Do people really believe that they are not just trying to push their own personal agenda?
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