As we celebrate our 250th anniversary of independence, the best birthday gift we can give ourselves is to change how Supreme Court Judges are appointed. The problem is that they are appointed by whoever the current U.S. President is. It is a problem because the Presidents are either Democrat or Republican, so they choose someone from their own party.
Our Founders created a court system to insure fairness in our democracy. That’s why we have 12 peers on juries — because your “peers” are “just like you.” They will treat you fairly, and if not, we have higher courts you can appeal to, and ultimately to the Supreme Court. However, note that George Washington warned about creating “political parties” in his farewell speech. The fact is, that Presidents pick Supreme Court judges based on party. They are more likely than not do the President’s bidding.
That’s what happened a few days ago in the idiotic decision the Court made to allow the President to fire heads of all of our federal departments, and to pick anyone he wants to lead them! This means Trump can do precisely what he has been doing: Remove heads of agencies who have decades of experience in running those agencies and replace them with people who bow to his wishes – e.g., those two beautiful bimbos who had little common sense or kindness. They kowtowed to his wishes – until finally their behavior was so egregious that he had to fire them. Or, more to the point, he appoints the biggest contributors to his campaigns or the ones who broker lucrative deals for him.
The decisions of the Justices should take into account the Constitution and past case history, but that should not be the primary source of their decisions. They should follow the wisdom of King Solomon. When he adjudicated on which of two women was the true mother of a baby, he said, “Okay, we’ll cut it in half and give half of it to each of you.” One of them said, “No, no, don’t cut him in half. Give it to her!” He then knew who the true mother was!
I love that story. In our two-party system, a jury should look into their hearts and brains to see what’s true and fair, what is the kind and humane thing to do. Lawyers arguing any case, however, look into to what it will take to “win”. The Supreme Court takes it a step further: What does my party, the party of the President who appointed me, want me to do?
For kicks, I asked ChatGPT if a Justice of the opposite party was ever appointed by a President. The short answer is: “There have been a few historical cases where party labels were blurred or changed, but no clear modern example of a president appointing a Chief Justice who belonged to the opposing political party.”
Maybe at this time of our 250th anniversary, some of us — many of us — will come up with a solution for a fairer way to pick Supreme Court justices. If they are “Supreme,” they should figure out how not to cut, but to nurture, this 250-year-old baby we’re celebrating, in a fair way. While we are at it, let’s throw in term limits for the Supreme Court judges, and not presume they grow more god-like as they age (as President Trump thinks he is now doing)
Let’s get a majority in the next election who can throw the bum out through impeachment. Then they can all sit down and figure out a better way to get the best leaders for our country, from the top down. Happy Re-Birthday, America!
