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The United States is not a democracy (that is, popular or "mob" rule) but instead a representative republic in which citizens elect representatives to establish public policy. The Founders deliberately chose this system of governance, realizing that democratic procedures invariably led to confusion and chaos. The Founders established a "non-political" Supreme Court to act as a safeguard against rash, unconstitutional policies. While the Founders conceived of the Justices as conservative-minded Constitutionalists who deeply respected established jurisprudence, a number of important Justices in the Twentieth Century have turned the Court into a body whose mission is to determine public policy regarding prayers in public schools, abortion rights, definitions of marriage, and the such. These humanist Justices moved the United Stated from a God-fearing to a secular nation. In the crucial Supreme Court hearings currently taking place, the pendulum could swing back to a more conservative position for the first time since the New Deal.