Justice Not Served
It's always disheartening to listen to the female Cokie Roberts, who happens to be a political pundit & public Catholic. I identify her first by gender because it sometimes seems (am I being too male?) that anything that is good for women is good for society.
Her retrospective on Sandra Day O'Connor was, necessarily, a retrospective on the way she felt when Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female SCOTUS. And she positively beamed when another This Week panel member explained how O'Connor was the most powerful justice, as if "power" has now suddenly taken on the the same connotation as "good" or "wise". Oh sure, we all adore our ethnic groups and our gender identities more than things like ideas and principles. So whatever O'Connor espoused, the important thing is that she was a woman, nevermind that at least half of aborted children are females and that O'Connor helped foster its continuation.
Roberts and Gringrich then had a fascinating little exchange. Cokie said that women are more practical, they are good at helping others reach consensus. And Gringrich agreed, saying that O'Connor didn't interpret the American Constitution but interpreted the consensus of the American Zeitgeist. Gringrich said that most women want to figure out how they can meet their opponent half way, while most men want to know how they can beat their opponent. And he was pleased that we're now apparently free to recognize gender differences and Cokie was pleased that Gingrich agreed with her. As long as men are depicted as competitive ape-like figures, then sexual stereotyping is fine.
But I must've missed the news because I didn't know the job description of a SCOTUS changed. That it's now to determine the consensus of the American people instead of interpreting the Constitution. (Although I suppose it is progress that at least she attempted to judge by the opinion of the American people instead of judging by her personal opinion, the way most of the justices have over the past five decades.) The question in the end becomes when does the rule of law become rule-by-arbitrary-opinion? Bill Luse put it well: "It seems that the rule of men is now the rule of law".
No comments:
Post a Comment