Looking for Justice

Justice John Paul Stevens has announced that he will soon be retiring from the United States Supreme Court. Appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1975, Stevens is currently the forth-longest serving Justice in the Court’s history. He is considered by most Liberals to be a moderate justice who has further moderated his initially generally conservative views over time. He is considered by most Conservatives to be a communist. Most Conservatives also consider Gerald Ford a communist.

The Supreme Court is a creation of Article III of the United States Constitution. Section I simply reads that “the judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Section II goes on to specify those cases which the Federal Courts shall exercise jurisdiction over, but nowhere does the Constitution dictate the structure, the procedure or the preferred judicial philosophy of those Courts. There is a substantial amount of writing from the various framers of the Constitution on the subject of the judiciary, including those both preceding and subsequent to the adoption of the Constitution, but these are, after all, just the opinions of individuals, and in many ways they reflect the divided views of the Founders on the role of the judiciary, and government in general, rather than monolithic unanimity about exactly what the Supreme Court was supposed to do.

There are now well over two-hundred years of established precedent defining the role of the Supreme Court, and just as many years of on-going spirited debate about the size, composition, and prerogatives of the Court. The role of final interpretation and application of the Constitution has become the exclusive province of the Court, which is somewhat unique, and powerful, in the sense that the Court is created by the Constitution; so, in a way, the Supreme Court decides for itself what its powers are. Though this may sound somewhat frightening, it is completely consistent the concept of our Founding Fathers that free people are capable of self government and that checks and balances cannot be a Chinese puzzle box; ultimately our salvation lies in deliberative and judicious selection of our public servants and political leadership, and that is why the elected President nominates the proposed Justice, and the Senate debates and, usually, confirms the nominee.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a man who would without a doubt be more comfortable in the Confederate States of America Senate, has already threatened to filibuster against the appointment if President Obama nominates someone who will “make law rather than interpret it”. Last time I checked, cases came to the Supreme Court because someone other than the Court had initiated them, so the Supreme Court can only chose to address those issues which they are presented, which is decidedly different from the various legislatures, which can do any damn foolish thing they take a notion to. I don’t recall seeing anything about a filibuster in the United States Constitution, but Senator Sessions seems to be ok with that. I do recall that the Constitution used to say that only “three-fifths of all other persons” (i.e. not free) would be counted for the purposes of Congressional representation, and that this provision was subsequently amended as the moral sensibilities of the nation evolved, but apparently Senator Sessions believes that the Constitution is, like the Bible, handed down from on high, eternal and inviolable. Unfortunately, Senator, men are not gods, even men as wise and honorable as those that founded our nation.

Senator Sessions was very critical of President Obama’s previous nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, because of his fear she might be empathetic to a party appearing before the Court, saying “empathy for one party is always prejudice against another.” I suppose it would be rather tiring to try to be empathetic to everyone; you might even become a little grumpy after a while. Anyway, I don’t know who the President plans to nominate to the Supreme Court, but I do know that it will inevitably become the disgusting, hypocritical political Kabuki theater everybody so thoroughly despises, but which we cannot seem to rid ourselves of. As for Senator Sessions, I gather that he would not vote to approve Jesus Christ if he were nominated. A little empathy is, after all, a dangerous thing.