In a case currently before the Supreme Court, the Justices will weigh the limits of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. This is a historic case with significant implications for former President Trump, the upcoming 2024 Presidential elections, and for all future Presidents of these “United States.”

The question on the table is: Should the president of the United States enjoy some amount of shielding from criminal prosecution due to his position?

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised some serious questions concerning presidential legal liability for crimes while in office. Justice Jackson asked: “Why would we have a situation in which we would say that the president should be making official acts without any responsibility for following the law?”

 She continued:

I think that we would have a really significant opposite problem if … someone with those kinds of powers, the most powerful person in the world with the greatest amount of authority, could go into office knowing that there would be no potential penalty for committing crimes.

She added: “I’m trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into the seat of criminal activity in this country.”

What kind of person would seek the highest office in the land with the idea of turning it into “the seat of criminal activity”? It would be someone without moral virtue who was elected by a people who lacked a moral sense. The presidency would be focused on the accumulation of power and not moral vision and moral leadership.

So much of this case and the coverage of the media is dealing with the law, legal liability and criminal acts.

I have heard no discussion of moral framework and moral culpability. The reason is, as a nation, we no longer have a cultural consensus that we live in a moral universe and that individuals are to be self-governed based on the moral law. Our culture as a whole has forgotten that we ultimately live before the face of God and will answer to Him at the end of our days. The concept of a virtuous citizen is quickly disappearing. As more and more people live without a moral framework, they “do what is right in their own eyes,” they become lawless.

Justice Jackson’s questions are a reflection of a culture without moral bounds, where we elect people to the highest office of the land without consideration of their character or virtue.

The Founders of our country clearly stated that individual self-government based on God’s moral laws was critical for a people to be free. President John Adams said what was on the minds of many of the Founders: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

STOP! Take a moment to think deeply about this!

What are consequences for the United States when the people are no longer moral and religious? A nation ceases to be free when its citizens are no longer rooted in and grounded in the Scriptures. A godless culture means more and more corruption and lawlessness which requires more and more laws, more and more police, more and more judges and more and more prisons to try to maintain order in a society.

Thus, the current climate where there is little to no discussion of virtue and a moral vision. There is no longer a majority of self-governing citizens electing a virtuous, self-governing President.

Marvin Olasky’s book, Moral Vision: Leadership from George Washington to Joe Biden, makes it clear that the virtuous character of citizens is a requisite for a free society. These citizens will then elect a leader with a moral vision, not simply seek the accumulation of power.

Brothers and sisters, I feel compelled to sound the alarm! Realize that coming to Christ means more than just coming for salvation. It also means discipling nations, training a culture and its people to be self-governed before the face of God and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded!

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