VIEWPOINT / THE SUPREMES

By Timothy Weaver, Ph.D.

This quaint artifact of a Republic is by far the strangest feature of them all. This tiny cloister of people deliberates and makes decisions that profoundly impact the citizenry they serve. They literally make life-and-death decisions (regarding execution stays) and, more broadly, decisions that can create deep misery and pain for millions or relieve it. All of this without the power of enforcement. That is why I say this is the strangest artifact of them all.

This Constitutional provision of an independent judiciary with only the power of belief by the people to enforce its edicts would strike an alien as a far-fetched fantasy. Nine control 340 million? Nine tell Presidents and the Congress they can or cannot do things they want? In the ancient world, these would be gods, emperors, and kings with divine powers over the populace.

This is a fragile thing, this most powerful entity that rests solely on the people’s belief that Nine have the final say and ultimate power over every law enacted by the US Congress and the various state legislatures. The Supremes can countermand governors, Presidents, Speakers of the House, and Leaders of the Senate. They are the true interpreters of the Constitution. They are the apostles determining for all the word of God. Like the apostles, their interpretation is gospel. Fini.

The fragility of this artifact rests with belief. What if we stopped believing? Why do we believe in the first place? What if the extremely wealthy stopped believing? They wield massive, real power, not power that rests on the people believing they have power. The Supremes have no army, no police force, no means of raising revenue, no secret service, no National Guard, and no Homeland Security. They have nothing. Nothing. Yet, we cower at their presence. If they say Trump is immune, Trump is immune. No higher authority can reverse them.

What happens if Trump is convicted of the insurrection charges and this decision is upheld by the Nine? Suppose Trump refuses to be arrested? What if Trump carried out his threat and had not vacated the White House after Biden’s inauguration?

This seems almost silly and comical, yet true. The Supreme Court of the United States has no power to enforce its decisions nor means to raise a police force or an army to do so. The Nine are entirely dependent upon the populace continuing to believe. It almost strikes me as the Wizard of Oz. We pull back the curtain, and there sit nine rather frumpy, old, and out-of-shape people behind Mahogany telling the country what it can and cannot do.

We do believe. But we believe because we also believe that these nine people are very special people, very special indeed. They are people who dedicate their lives and sacrifice the opportunity to become wealthy, the most honorable of us all. They are more equal than their equals. They tell other judges they are wrong. They are in effect the Popes of the Republic. When they speak, it is ex cathedra. We believe this, or perhaps, want to believe this. We share this belief with 340 million Americans. It is a collective belief. It is unshakeable. It is unshakeable because these Magnificent Nine are honorable and free of prejudice and biases when it comes to applying the facts and the law; they are of the highest ethics and to a fault non-partisan. They leave any personal beliefs, religious beliefs, or animosity toward others at the Court House door. They apply justice blindly. They are above board. They are the very best of the very best.

We must believe this, or no one will accept the finality of their decisions. Their decisions are final in the true sense of the word, well, almost. It seems they are final until members die and are replaced with new members. Then, settled law becomes unsettled. We have witnessed this in our lifetimes more so than other generations. We have seen new members of the old and venerable Court reverse precedent and settled law right before our eyes. This erodes belief. When we believe all the above about honor and non-partisan debate, to see that it is not true ruptures the contract that belief holds in place. When an institution so powerful that no one can counter it breaks faith with the people, their only source of that awesome power, chaos ensues.

We are in new territory. The Supremes are on shaky grounds. Their monstrous power depends entirely on everyone believing they are honorable, the best of the best, special, and above us. Only then would we allow our lives to be, in some cases, destroyed by what they say.

Mr. Roberts, beware. Mr. Roberts, you seem to have a grasp of these truths. Yet, some other members do not. No one with the high honor due a Justice of the US Supreme Court would take bribes in the millions that Thomas and Alito have accepted. I call them just what they are–bribes. The best the key holder to the kingdom, Chief Justice Roberts, can muster is a weak set of guidelines. No sir. That will not do. It will not do, and it cannot stand. This Court has lost the one thing it cannot lose–the people’s belief. If the center cannot hold, then chaos is unleashed upon the land.

The last three years have revealed just how far the respect for the law and judiciary has eroded. Lawyers scheming to twist the law into an elaborate, unrecognizable tangle. Lawyers deliberately lying to officials of state governments. Lawyers using their unique skills, not to uphold the law but to pervert it for selfish benefit. When the learned professionals of the law no longer believe in the law things cannot hold. When experienced jurists propose laws, they are certain to be unconstitutional in furtherance of an illegal act, where are we as a nation? Res ipsa loquitur. The condition speaks for itself. We are in trouble.

I cannot think the people will long endure this.

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