Filibuster Fray Lifts Profile of Minister

Christian conservatives have turned their attention to the courts because they believe many judges reflect a secular, liberal elite and are making rulings affecting prayer in school, religious expressions in public life, the teaching of science and other matters that are contrary to the will of the majority of Americans.

"Judges are law. We have to live under their laws," said Don Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association and a member of the advisory board of Vision America, Scarborough's organization. "We as any other American citizen ought to have some input in the kinds of people who are going to rule over us."

The 2004 election lighted the fire for change, said Wildmon, who is also founder of the Arlington Group, a coalition of social conservative groups. "I always thought to the winner goes the spoils."

The goal of these groups is to remove the parliamentary impediments that Democrats have used to block 10 of Bush's federal appellate court nominees and that could be used to block future Supreme Court nominees. Of the 10, seven have been renominated by the president, and the Democrats have vowed to block them again. With a 55 to 45 majority, Republicans currently have enough votes to confirm Bush's nominees but not enough to shut off a Democratic filibuster to get to the final vote.

Scarborough, 55, started preaching while a student at Stephen F. Austin State University. His other preoccupation was football; one teammate was future Redskins star kicker Mark Moseley. "I hiked every ball he kicked in college," Scarborough says.

After receiving a master's of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and a doctorate in ministry from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, Scarborough hit the national revival and crusade circuit for 14 years. He settled in Pearland in 1990 and became pastor of First Baptist Church.

His first foray into politics came two years later, when he attended a local high school assembly on AIDS awareness, and was appalled at the frank talk about condoms and "various sex acts." He read the transcript from the pulpit one Sunday morning and took his complaints -- and at least 400 parishioners -- to the school board. Eventually, the high-school principal was replaced by a supporter of abstinence-based sex education.

The experience taught Scarborough the power of the pulpit in stirring action, and he became a prominent force on the local political scene. Within a few years, members of his church had been elected to the Pearland city council and school board, and were hired for top local government jobs, including city manager and police chief.

But Scarborough encountered some bumps in the road. Several of his church members who won local school board and city council seats proved inept or uninspiring as public officials. In 1996, Scarborough tried to win control of the Texas Baptist General Convention to "take the state for Jesus," but lost to a moderate candidate by a 2-to-1 margin. In 2002, he resigned as pastor and founded Vision America to mobilize fellow church leaders "to promote active citizenship."

Even some of Scarborough's adversaries say they were impressed by how swiftly he has ascended in the filibuster debate. His biggest public relations coup was a conference he organized in Washington last month titled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith." The event attracted considerable media attention and featured DeLay via video calling for Congress to "reassert our constitutional authority over the courts."

"He [Scarborough] has made himself a major player," says Rob Boston, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who has tracked Scarborough's career for years.

Some GOP activists not affiliated with religious groups worry that their original intent of challenging the judicial filibuster on constitutional grounds is now being perceived as more of an effort by Christian groups to impose a religious test on judicial nominees.

"We understand their frustration," says one Republican activist, who works closely with the religious groups. "But we'd rather keep the rhetoric constructive and not fire-breathing."

During his news conference last week, Bush distanced himself from the views of some religious groups that Democrats were blocking his judicial nominees because of differences in faith.

Scarborough insists that his broad goal is simply to put in place "constitutionally minded judges." It is an effort that could last months, even years, but he can't think of any cause more worthy. Along with the influx of new Patriot Pastors, his Web site, stopactivistjudges.org, received 850,000 hits last month.

"I couldn't believe it," Scarborough said. "We've been chipping along and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the flow."