The Supreme Court, in my opinion, should not be partisan, but should be above politics. Judges should be nominated according to their character, ethics, knowledge of our constitution and precedents. Extremes on either side should be avoided.

The fact that Republicans have come out against any appointments by President Obama before they even know who he will nominate shows that the Supreme Court has become another political football. This type of thinking must stop before it tears our country apart.

On the Democratic extreme are those who will crucify President Obama if he doesn’t appoint an extremely liberal judge.

This is also the wrong approach and I am confident that our President is more concerned about keeping this court above politics and getting this vital position filled. I believe that he will nominate someone who has already been overwhelmingly approved by both sides for their current roles as judges. This should make it very difficult for Republicans to fail to confirm the nominee, but current history would say otherwise.

It is very disconcerting to watch both of our political parties move farther and farther toward the extremes and away from any pretense of working together for the common good. If our country is to survive and succeed, it must get back to the idea of putting the interests of our country first. And we must stick to the principles of our founding fathers and our Constitution that declare equal treatment under the law for everyone (regardless of religion or race) and separation of church and state.

Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for one religion to be the religion of the land. It means equal treatment for all religions, even those with which we disagree. Anything less would put us in the same category with ISIS or the Taliban.