Timothy M. Todd

1/ 250 years ago, a group of bold patriots signed their names to a document that could have gotten them killed. A short thread on the founding, faith, and the role lawyers 🇺🇸🧵

Given the citizen invocation in Ottumwa, Iowa, this week, I'd like to offer a contrast from the first Continental Congress. On September 7, 1774, the Rev. Jacob Duché opened the Continental Congress in prayer at its request. He read Psalm 35, then prayed. He called on "O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords," who reigns over "all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments." He prayed for the American States, who had "thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection," asked that "truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst the people," and closed "in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior." You can read the First Prayer of the Continental Congress here: chaplain.house.gov/archive/c…

Every government has a belief system (i.e., a religion), stated or unstated. There is no such thing as religious neutrality. As we mark 250 years (🇺🇸), Satan invocations are neither what the Founders had in mind nor the freedom for which they pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. We've lost the plot. foxnews.com/media/iowa-city-…

The issue here is removal, not appointment. Trump v. Slaughter likely answers it. U.S. attorneys prioritize and decide how to pursue legal actions against defendants who violate the law. Those duties are in the “heartland of executive power.” Because they wield executive power, they must “be controlled by the Chief Executive, in whom such power is vested.” Under the reasoning of Slaughter, then, “the President may remove his subordinates at will,” including U.S. attorneys, regardless of the appointment mechanism.

How can you not be romantic about baseball? Good luck getting through this with dry eyes.

Amen. A generation like that does not happen by accident. It is formed by strong and faithful pulpits, families, universities, and law schools—filled with serious people who fear God and love Him.

Two things can be true at once: (1) The federal government has no constitutional role in welfare programs. (2) Until those programs stop, reforms that don’t increase their costs can be good.

Today we start classes at @LibertyU School of Law! We are especially thankful for @LibertyUPres Dondi E. Costin, Ph.D., who invested in our new first-year students when they arrived early for orientation. At Liberty Law, we are Training Champions for Christ to Change the World through the Ministry of Law. We are blessed to begin this year with the largest JD enrollment in Liberty Law history! We are grateful for every student who has chosen to be here, and we look forward to a great school year!

USA!!! 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🇺🇸

About two weeks before the Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote: “Statesmen my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. . . . The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue . . . .” The Founders understood that lasting liberty required moral and religious conviction—that law, without moral grounding, could not long sustain freedom. 🇺🇸 More thoughts below.

On the same day the Supreme Court expands presidential removal power in Trump v. Slaughter, it takes a narrower (and perhaps even doctrinally irreconcilable) path in Cook. Notably, the two majority opinions don’t even cite or directly engage with each other.