Baby, Where Did Our Love Go?
September 15, 2005 – 7:18 am | by nerd's eye viewI’m torn over the Supreme Court hearings. See, I am absolutely terrified of any Bush appointee. I am a shameless partisan, plus, Bush doesn’t do anything without the evil puppet masters pulling the strings, so this guy, John Roberts, has been vetted and approved by, well, the Lords of Mordor come to mind. So that gives me the willies.
But John Roberts, this guy who won’t answer a single freakin’ question about his opinions, totally has a point that I can not argue with. The thing is, he’s spot on when he says that his personal opinion has no bearing on how he’s required to adminster the law. I get that. I actually do. Here’s a little lesson I had in that idea.
Back in the old country, J has a friend who’s a judge. We were at dinner one night and we were talking about marijuana laws. The judge was telling us how he really doesn’t like to lock up the potheads because he thinks they’re essentially harmless. What he really hates are drunk drivers. Those guys, when they show up before him for the second third fourth time, he wants to send them up the river. Because he thinks they are dangerous as all get out and someone could get killed, whereas some stoner with a pocket full of weed in unlikely to commit vehicular manslaughter. (His example, if I’m remembering right, which I might not be.) Still, he didn’t write the marijuana laws OR the drunk driving laws. He has to say, “The law say if you’re caught with dope, you have to serve XYZ.” Gavel. End of question. Law adminstered, no personal opinion involved, see?
That’s what John Roberts is saying. “My opinion doesn’t matter. It’s my job to adminster the law.” But that doesn’t get us any closer to knowing HOW he thinks that law would be adminstered and the issues we’re talking about are HUGE. Maybe we could take another approach? We could ask him if there are issues he thinks the court has no business legislating. That’s my question for John Roberts. Does he think the court should hear right to die cases? Does he think the court should hear the Roe v. Wade appeal? Does he think that the courts should legislate marriage? I would like to know if he’s a state’s rights guy or… crap, I forget what the other thing is. Because that might give us some sense of where he’s going to go. He doesn’t have to say “People have the right to XYZ” he could just say, “That’s a case that the Supreme Court should decide.”
I also think that Joe Biden, as bullying as he might be, is right on TOO. Because all he’s saying is, “Dude, you could be ANYONE and if/when you’re approved, we’re stuck with you. For a long long long long time. Throw us a goddamn bone here!”
Roberts is super smart. He’s credible and has excellent grammar. He doesn’t talk down, he’s thoughtful and he’s respectful of the legal process. We’ve heard all kinds of stuff about his great character. Whatever, he should be ALL those things, after all, people, he’s a Supreme Court nomiee, for crying out loud. Duh. But all this is information anyone could get from his RESUME. But we have no idea what this guy believes in.
Aside: If I have to listen to one more Republican senator make out with John Roberts, I expect full gay rights to follow immediately upon his confirmation. This is going to set me back a small fortune in wedding presents when all my gay friends rush to the altar, but I will be happy for them nonetheless.
Remember, there’s another opening on the court, right? And once Roberts is in, and I believe they won’t find any reason not to confirm him based on the guidelines I’m hearing, the adminstration will appoint ANOTHER justice to the courts. That makes me really really really nervous for my civil rights. And even more so for the civil rights of generations to come.
