While the use of the term "ruling" in the news story headline is not "wrong," as such, its use does tend to reinforce a false understanding of the role that the Supreme Court of the United States is to play in the federal government of our country. The average citizen (probably in the Missouri Synod, too) understands the "rulings" of the Supreme Court to be the final say on any given subject upon which it issues a majority opinion in our society. That is not so. It has been allowed to become the prevailing understanding, but it is incorrect. With the political will, the Congress and the President, working together, can pass and sign legislation into law that supersedes the majority opinion of the Supreme Court. Further, an amendment to the federal constitution, again with the political will to do so, can be passed over the Supreme Court's opinion. When this important fact is remembered, the Supreme Court is held to its proper place as the third and weakest branch of the federal government.