The Department of Justice's newly released report provides a documentary account of federal investigations involving parents who challenged public school policies. Its findings invite a deeper examination of governmental authority, constitutional liberty, and the fundamental rights of parents. A government that fears the voices of parents has forgotten whom it serves. During my years serving as a federal prosecutor and later as a federal judge, I learned the indispensable imp

The Quiet Power to Shape What We Think While researching a constitutional issue recently, I encountered something that unsettled me. The legal question itself was difficult but not obscure. I was examining the interaction between a proposed constitutional provision, parental rights, and the protection of human life. Yet reaching a clear answer required repeated probing, careful reformulation, and persistence. Eventually, the analysis emerged. But the experience left me thinki

I lived much of my life in the great Commonwealth of Virginia, and all my children were born there. That is why Question 1, the constitutional abortion amendment on November 3’s ballot, concerns me as both a father and a constitutional scholar. Beneath its language of freedom lies a threat to children before and after birth. My children’s birth certificates recorded their arrival, not the beginning of their humanity. Their worth did not depend on being wanted. Every human bei

Fifty years ago, Congress drew a moral line. On September 30, 1976, it enacted the first Hyde Amendment, providing that federal Medicaid funds generally could not be used to pay for abortions. Congress has renewed that protection in annual appropriations ever since.1 The Hyde Amendment prevents the federal government from compelling taxpayers to finance most abortions. That distinction reflects both constitutional restraint and moral clarity. It also respects the deeply held

“They’re going to kill me?” Those words should stop us cold. According to her family, 83-year-old Brigitte Stegemann asked that question after her granddaughter explained what Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program would do. Brigitte suffered from advanced stomach cancer. She was elderly. She was vulnerable. And on July 10, 2026, a medical professional intentionally ended her life by lethal injection. Her family says Brigitte had earlier rejected physician-assisted kill

Twenty-five years later, we remember not only what America lost on September 11, 2001, but what ordinary Americans revealed about courage, sacrifice, faith, and freedom. There are moments in life when history suddenly ceases to be something we study and becomes something we experience. September 11, 2001, was such a moment. I was serving on the federal bench at the time, but that morning I was at the University of Florida, where I was teaching future leaders in a law school c

What makes Christian higher education genuinely Christian? At Spring Arbor University, the answer begins with a community of learners committed to pursuing truth under the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is something special about the beginning of a new school year. Here at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, our campus has come alive again. Students walking to class. Professors meeting new students. Athletic teams competing. Friendships beginning. Chapel brings the communit

“Let each builder choose with care how to build.” – 1 Corinthians 3:10 Welcome to a new year at Spring Arbor University!* There is an ancient prayer from the end of Psalm 19 that some of you have heard hundreds of times. Growing up, my pastor recited it each week, just before his sermon: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” For thousands of years, those two things have naturally belonged toget

A Labor Day Reflection on Work, Calling, and the Glory of God Each year on Labor Day, Americans rightly pause to honor the men and women whose work built our communities, sustained our families, strengthened our economy, and helped make this nation great. But for the Christian, Labor Day invites us to consider something deeper. We were created to work. Properly understood, work is part of God's design for human life. Work is not something to endure so that we can enjoy the we

An Analysis of the Education Freedom Tax Credit -- A significant new chapter in American education policy is about to begin. Last year, Congress enacted the nation's first federal tax-credit program supporting educational choice. As implementation approaches, the Education Freedom Tax Credit provides an important opportunity to consider what good governance requires when government acts in a sphere where the rights and responsibilities of others precede the State. Indeed, th

If you follow our work here at all, good news from Nigeria has been painfully scarce. For years, the story has been one of murdered worshipers, kidnapped schoolchildren, displaced villages, intimidated converts, and a government too often unwilling, or unable, to secure justice. Against that dark background, a recent Federal High Court ruling deserves more than passing notice. It is a genuine victory for religious freedom, human dignity, and the Rule of Law. The case concerns

Reflections on Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission The American constitutional order begins with the first principle that civil government may exercise only limited power. Among the most important of those limits is that government holds no authority to define authentic religious belief or determine how citizens must express their faith. Such belong to God, and to the religious communities that seek to obey Him. Whenever the State a

Reflections on First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport Every generation must decide whether liberty is an inherent right bestowed by our Creator or a privilege bestowed by government. As I've often noted, the American Founders answered that question with remarkable clarity. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that all persons “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” and that governments are instituted not to create those rights but

Why Honest Questions Need Not Defeat Christian Faith Every sincere Christian eventually encounters moments when faith is tested by doubt. Sometimes doubt arises intellectually. We confront a difficult question about Scripture, suffering, science, history, or the existence of God and discover that the answer does not come easily. At other times doubt is deeply personal. A prayer seems unanswered. Tragedy strikes. God appears distant. What we know to be true suddenly does not f

Wisdom, truth, and courage in Biblical leadership I. The Crisis of Discernment Leadership has never required more information than it does today. A leader can carry in his pocket immediate access to more facts, opinions, commentary, and purported expertise than previous generations could have gathered in a lifetime. Yet more information does not necessarily make us wiser. Our problem may be precisely the opposite: we have an abundance of information but a shortage of somethin

Nehemiah 1:4-11; 2:4-8; 4:1-9; 6:9; 9:5,31 By Wallis Metts, Ph.D.* At Spring Arbor University, we now have a strategic plan and several new initiatives. And, of course, we still have the work we normally do, as well as new challenges—enrollment goals to reach, accreditation challenges, students to retain, a capital campaign to complete. It makes me think of Nehemiah, who had to run a city and rebuild its wall at the same time. Nehemiah is not a priest, not a prophet, not even

The American constitutional order rests upon a profound assumption. Law possesses an objective meaning that exists independently of the preferences of judges.[1] The Constitution was not written as a collection of vague aspirations to be reshaped by each generation of political elites. Rather, it was framed as a governing charter with words intended to communicate definite meaning, preserve liberty, and structure representative government. When judges faithfully interpret tho

The State Department’s $3.8 billion commitment to U.N.-administered relief tests whether American compassion abroad remains accountable to American law, policy, and national interests. The State Department’s decision to commit $3.8 billion in American humanitarian assistance to United Nations–administered funds raises a serious question of constitutional stewardship. Who ultimately controls how the U.N. system allocates and conditions those taxpayer dollars? In a recent Herit

Why Moving Power out of Washington Must Mean More Than Rearranging the Bureaucracy DETROIT NEWS| Opinion (Hon. Wm Wagner) - Updated July 31, 2026, 9:57 p.m. ET The House Education and Workforce Committee’s Less Bureaucracy, Better Education package challenges Washington to acknowledge that federal bureaucracy is not necessary for educational excellence. Recognizing that truth does not diminish the real needs these programs address. A principled case for reform must protect st

The Department of Justice’s newly issued guidance on religious liberty, and the legal basis for it, deserves our attention. Although it lacks the drama of a Supreme Court opinion, its practical effect may prove equally significant. The Guidance directs every federal agency to interpret and administer federal law in light of nearly a decade of Supreme Court decisions reaffirming America’s first freedom. That development reflects an abiding constitutional truth. Religious liber