The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!
H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926
On January 26th, 2022, it was announced that Associate Justice Stephen Breyer would be retiring at the end of the court’s term in June 2023.
The Supreme Court is the third arm of American government, the body that was intended to ensure that neither the Executive branch – the President, and the Legislative – the House and Senate, did not attempt to assert more power and control than was their due within the framework of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court was intended to be the impartial arbiter of Justice. They were not to be swayed by political winds, hence their lifetime appointments. There have of course, been Courts that may have slanted more liberal and more conservative.
Consider for the moment a football field, hash lines and all. As presented within Americas governing document an understanding that the court should never be beyond the forty-yard line in either direction. What has happened is that both parties have had majorities standing on their respective 1 yard lines, doing all they can to pull the court in their direction, believing that a central-centered court is an untenable situation. In short, they are trying to ensure that Lady Justice will be able to sneak a peek under her blindfold.
Luckily for America, neither party has been successful in their attempts to pull the court past that discussed forty-yard defining position.
Sadly, the Court has begun showing signs of engaging in moments of political partiality.
Consider the recent arguments before the Court on the constitutionality of the Biden administration vaccine mandates. The three left-centric Justices all made comments during oral arguments that belied they partisanship. Justice Elena Kagan commented that mandating the vaccines was the policy "most geared" to help stop Covid-19.
A Supreme Court Justice should not feel emboldened to offer either medical or legislative commentary while seated on the bench deciding an issue of law. It is a dangerous precedent to afford this right to any judge, anywhere.
Not to be outdone, Justice Stephen Breyer offered additional commentary that had nothing to do with the United States Constitution. He intoned that the mandates imposed by Biden through the back-door OSHA gambit was needed because “hospitals are full almost to the point of maximum” and that “750 million new cases” had been reported in the US yesterday.
As noted, a Supreme Court Justice should focus on the Constitution and the law, no wildly erroneous drivel. As a side note, the population of the United States is roughly 350 million. Forgive us the snark, but we believe that if everybody had gotten Covid TWICE the day before, surely it would have made the evening news.
The most egregious case of judicial misconduct was given by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In attempting to validate her belief that the illegal mandates were in fact constitutional, she proffered these comments. “Omicron is as deadly as Delta … we have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators.”
“We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition,” Sotomayor added, “and many on ventilators.” Absolutely none of it was remotely true. Research from across the political media spectrum determined that the number of children hospitalized was closer to 3,500.
Apparently blinded by political ideology, the three Justices voted to anoint the mandates as legal. Luckily, they were overruled by the six Justices who have apparently actually read the Constitution.
Where this all brings us is to the Breyer vacancy. We understand and support the axiom that elections have consequences, so Joe Biden, as president, will have the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court Justice. We will address the confirmation hearings when they approach.
Our concern is that somehow selecting Justices is no longer focused on obtaining a candidate who is among the best and brightest. On the campaign trail, Biden made the absolutely pandering for votes decision to promise if elected, he would nominate a woman of color to the bench.
The Madison Conservative will acknowledge we have a heightened passion and reverence for the United States Constitution.
We cannot fathom why any politician would make such an outright stupid comment.
The extreme political left – those still screeching on the 1-yard line – are now clamoring for Biden to honor his pledge, and as expected, he has said he will indeed choose a woman of color.
This is alarming for several reasons.
1 – In one fell swoop, he has removed more than half of the eligible candidates from consideration.
2 – He has guaranteed to add to the national division. No doubt any questioning of the nominee will be blasted as racist, and not congressional due diligence.
3 - He has assured that a cloud of preference surrounds the new Justice. She will be forever tainted with the belief she was chosen for gender and pigment qualifications alone. Absolutely unfair, but the fact is such situations, perception becomes reality.
4 – Biden has again demonstrated his bold-faced disdain for his presidential oath. If he had kept his mouth shut on the issue, it is believable that the best qualified candidate would be a woman of color, and as such the national debate could begin on her judicial philosophy. Biden’s choice to no longer “preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution for his own personal power should disgust every citizen.
Biden demonstrated his cowardice by abandoning Americans behind Taliban lines in his retreat from Afghanistan. His actions and choices are now risking Americans here at home.
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