Toggle open close
Introduction
The Declaration of Independence explains that “institut[ing] new Government” requires “laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form” as will accomplish its purpose. To that end, America’s Founders laid a foundation for republican government in which “the people are masters of the government”REF and structured its powers into three separate branches.
While these are designed to be separate and coordinate, the Founders believed that in a republic, the legislative branch, which represents and is elected by the people, “necessarily predominates.”REF The judicial branch, in contrast, would be the “weakest” and “least dangerous” branch because it uses “judgment” rather than “will”REF to settle legal disputes that take the form of actual “Cases” and “Controversies.”REF
Updated on January 20, 2021 at 11:46 am
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
During President Barack Obama s administration, then Vice President Joe Biden would occasionally sneak into Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. For security reasons, Biden would arrive late and leave early, as the Rev. Kevin Gillespie remembered it, but he would always stay for Holy Communion.
“He was just one of the crowd,” Gillespie recalled from those moments he celebrated the Mass. “From my vantage point, he walks his talk.”
Other D.C. religious leaders agree. They see a president who demonstrates how religion can be a driving force for good in their local communities. Just as Biden leaned on religion for comfort and healing from his personal pain and loss, D.C. religious leaders hope he’ll lean on his faith-based values to foster the kind of dialogue that will heal America’s open wounds.