Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate on constitutional issues, and has won three state landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases in the past few years alone. He was recently named one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.

It seems the iconoclasts have graduated from tearing down the Civil War monuments to World War I memorials. A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a 40-foot-tall monument erected nearly a century ago just outside the nation’s capital in Bladensburg, Md., known locally as the Peace Cross and dedicated to 49 residents of Prince George’s County who died on the battlefields of France during the First World War, is unconstitutional because it’s in the shape of a Latin cross.

The 2-1 ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court avers that because the memorial sits on public land maintained with public funds, it “has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion.” That of course is precisely the argument made by the American Humanist Association, a Washington-based lobby for atheists, who seem to think memorial crosses on public property constitute government establishment of religion (let’s hope they don’t wander into Arlington National Cemetery).

JOHN F. KELLY, White House chief of staff: Well, thanks a lot. And it is a more serious note, so I just wanted to perhaps make more of a statement than an — give more of an explanation in what amounts to be a traditional press interaction.

Most Americans don’t know what happens when we lose one of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, our Coast Guardsmen in combat. So let me tell you what happens:

Their buddies wrap them up in whatever passes as a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as a routine, and sends them home. Their first stop along the way is when they’re packed in ice, typically at the airhead.

President Donald Trump is doing something that has not been seen in the last eight years. He is devolving -- returning -- power from the Executive Branch (the Office of the President), primarily to the Legislative Branch (the Congress). We are seeing this in three recent developments.

First, he announced an Executive Order cancelling the program created by former President Obama commonly known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The DACA program was fashioned by way of an Executive Order signed by President Obama in June 2012. Under the DACA program, Mr. Obama ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to allow aliens illegally residing in the United States to get work authorizations, Social Security numbers, and driver’s licenses -- none of which are legally permitted under statutory law. Mr. Obama originally wanted Congress to enact such a law -- commonly known as the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) but was unable to persuade Congress to act.

“The judge story is an untold story,” President Donald Trump said Monday, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell standing beside him. “When you think about it, Mitch and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge, but 40 years out.”

Indeed, this “untold story” also got lost in a rambling White House press conference, and McConnell’s awkward presence underscored the tension between the two men although the majority leader is largely responsible both for Trump’s election and the greatest achievement of his presidency.