The Power of the Pen

  "The (small) Stone that the Builders Rejected

by Amber Rogers

For those of you who may have forgotten; it is my great pleasure to re-introduce to you the modern day "stone" that the builders rejected. He entered into our scope of reality on March 16, 2016, when then President, Barack Obama nominated him for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier. Merrick Garland, who was serving as a U.S. Circuit Judge of Appeals for the District of Columbia, carried within his performance repertoire, a stellar record and had long been considered a prime prospect for this high court position. However, something happened along the way. And that 'something' cast him front and center in a game of Roulette which spun the ball of his nomination wildly around the table of partisanship.

As Garland's "hot number" hypnotized the Democratic Party as a sure thing, the outcome read like a page from The Martingale Betting Strategy, and with former President Barack Obama at the helm of the wheel, the phrase of "always bet on black" took on a new meaning! With Hilary Clinton pegged as a sure win for the up-coming election, it seemed very plausible that the Republicans would confirm him in the Lame-Duck period before they were to be saddled with a younger, more liberal candidate. For Obama, Garland's views were closer to that of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, and Garland's appointment would be a pretty little star upon the résumé of his legacy.

But who would have thought that the table was fixed, and that "betting on black," came with collateral damage. The hatred for America's first Black President, had tentacles far more reaching than expected. And when the spin of the GOP's racism boomeranged off of the head of its intended, it landed with a full thud upon the lap of Garland and the consciousness of the American people. And as the ball was yet pouncing and bouncing from black to red upon this great wheel, almost abruptly, the dealer announced "no more bets!"...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared "any appointment by the sitting president (Obama) was to be null and void!" Stating that the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the next president — to be elected later that year. He declared in great detail that "the American people should have a say in the court's direction, and that it is a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on the President and withhold its consent." And with that statement, the 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter saying they had no intention of consenting to any nominee from then President Obama.

Like the backlash from Jews parading Jesus before the Sanhedrin, Scores of scholars, law professors, historians and political scientists urged the Senate to at least have a "process" for Garland as a duly appointed nominee with impeccable qualifications. But to no avail. Lawyers and academics alike pointed out that the Constitution empowered the Senate to "advise and consent" yet, again to no avail. The name of Merrick Garland became known as simply that of "plaintiff" in a Federal Lawsuit filed to compel McConnell to hold a vote on Garland. But the courts threw it out citing that Garland, as an ordinary voter, had no standing to sue.

No proceedings of any kind were ever held on Garland's appointment. In retrospect, there was no precedent for such an action since the period around the Civil War and Reconstruction. No Democratic President had made an appointment while Republicans held the Senate since 1895. And while speaking to his constituents in the state of Kentucky, that August, Mitch McConnell, freed himself and his conscious by admitting in public, with great pride that: "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.' "

The fiery ball of Merrick Garland, and all of his dejection lied castigated within the recesses of America's mind. What had once bounced with hope, now lay flat as a stone -rejected by the builders and the guardians of our Constitution. However, as with every downed Phoenix, and every Sacrificial Lamb, there lies at its precipice redemption and elevation. In January of 2021, almost 5 years after his dejection, the story of Merrick Garland took on a redemptive quality after President Joe Biden, (who served as V.P to Barack Obama during this tumultuous saga in 2016) took office as the 46th president of the United States. It was then that this modern-day political story began to morph into a deeper more meaningful walk through the biblical annuals of Genesis (37–50), and St. Matthew 26th chapter. It is there that we can understand redemption. We are encouraged both in the natural and scripturally that when we have been carried away and discarded by a "party" of Ishmaelites, into the foreign lands of our Egypts, that we are to hold on to both our dignity and our faith. And as we peruse through the political proceedings of our lives, seeking our adjudications, it is okay to be that stone.

I'm sure, to be sold out by his political brothers, Merrick Garland could make no correlations which would lead him through his "Egypt" experience. But we can only laugh in retrospect as his brothers entered the "courtroom" of his life and found this "stone" to be the new Attorney General of the United States! The Republican Party does not have to bow down to Merrick Garland as Joseph's brothers bowed down to him, and the Republican Party does not have to deify him as we do the Ultimate Stone that the builders rejected however, this political- turned scriptural cautionary tale for the masses, should move upon our world to magnify the power of redemption! Handpicked by the President of the United States, elevating him above those who sought to discard him, as collateral damage he now sits as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the United States. He is the head of the Department of Justice, has supervisory responsibility over the United States, and is the Legal Advisor to the Government! Merrick Garland is now the one responsible for representing the State, and acting on its behalf in all legal proceedings in which the State is a party! 😂 Let us pause now for a warm and fuzzy moment; because this is a great story!