Second, it allows public support for religious principles. The founding fathers' Constitution, for example, allowed presidents since George Washington to declare national days of thanksgiving and prayer. It allowed Congress to pass laws appointing chaplains for the House and Senate and for the armed forces. It authorized use of the Capitol for church services and permitted that taxpayer money be spent to print Bibles, build churches, and pay missionaries. It also allowed the Supreme Court to open every session with an invocation.
Restrained judges allow the people to make the law and the people's values to define the culture.
When judges make up or re-define just a few words, then issues from abortion and religion, pornography and homosexual rights, to race and welfare policy, political reform and criminal justice, are determined in the courthouse rather than the statehouse. Because the answer depends on the kind of judge who sits on the federal bench, judicial selection is the most important single issue in national politics today. When liberals fail to advance their political agenda in the political process, they often turn to the courts for help. That's certainly been true of Bill Clinton who, as of this writing, has appointed 323 federal judges. Clinton judges have struck down state laws banning partial-birth abortion, requiring parental consent for minors' abortions, and applying ordinary health regulations to abortion clinics.