But several are themed to the concerns of the Religious Right. They argue that:

Justice Souter's retirement could move the Court to the left and provide a critical fifth vote for:

o Further eroding the rights of the unborn and property owners;

o Imposing a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage;

o Stripping "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance and completely secularizing the public square;

That the memo raises issues of abortion and gay rights is unsurprising -- but it also demonstrates that these remain important and of particular and lasting importance to the Religious Right in the GOP. (Fascinating that "the rights of the unborn" are linked with those of "property owners.")

What I want to highlight is the importance of the ongoing effort to pit the Religious Right's exclusivist claim on God and faith against all others -- who are allegedly trying to "completely" secularize the public square.  There are many problems with this framing, not the least of which is that faith and religion are not now, nor have they ever been, the exclusive province of political conservatives. Most importantly though, this pitting of the religious as against the secular; conflating the idea of faith itself with opposition to the constitutional doctrines related to religious equality and pluralism -- is integral to the identity of the Religious Right itself.  

That is why is it is a framing that feeds the charge that Democrats and liberals are trying to drive people of faith out of the public square. That is is a preposterous and factually unsupported charge does not alter the fact that it is an idea embraced as true by many including some Democrats; and that it remains a pernicious and resilient dimension of public discourse.

Whatever else happens in relation to the Sotomayor nomination, it is not insignificant that this talking point was among the first out of the box from the Republican National Committee. And it underscores the way that Religious Right frames continue to play a major role in our national discourse.