The Supreme Court and the Author

There is a popular tv show currently airing called Once Upon a Time.  In one particular season, the group of main characters (including the villains) seek out a man known only as The Author.  This is the man who wrote the story the characters are all living in, and the characters believe that he has the power to change it.  They all have some agenda they want to author to write into the story.  The villains want their "happy endings," and the heroes want to protect innocents from the harm this would cause.

Eventually, they discover that The Author has been trapped somewhere, and they release him.  He turns out not to be the wise story writer they all thought he was.  Instead he turns out to be this guy who is totally self centered and cares more about entertainment than anything else.

The charge of the author was that of a recorder of history, not that of a story teller.  When he was selected, he was given a magic pen, and he was instructed to use it to witness and record events as they happened.  The pen, however, had the power to change and direct the story, which power he was forbidden to use.  He violated his charge when he decided that he knew better.  He found the story to be dull, so he used the magic pen to tweak and direct it.  He used his power to reshape the world the way that he thought it should be, without any regard for the great many people he harmed in the process.

Now that you know about The Author, let's talk about the Supreme Court.  The stated mission of the Court is to interpret law.  In general, this is the mission of every court.  The Supreme Court specializes in it though.  Interpretation is when the meaning of something is translated into a format that is easier for a given person or group to understand.  When text or spoken language is interpreted, it is converted into the language of part or all of the audience, so they can understand it.  It is necessary to interpret law because English is an ambiguous language, and much of U.S. law was written so long ago that the meaning of the language used has changed.  So, the job of the Supreme Court is to determine the intent of the law, as it was written.

The Supreme Court is like The Author.  It's job is not to create or change.  It's job is to take existing text and interpret it into spoken language, understanding, and action (The Author's job was essentially to interpret observation of events into text).  In both of these cases, accuracy is paramount.  It is an essential part of the job, and violating it can result in a great deal of harm.

Like The Author in Once Upon a Time, the Supreme Court's power extends beyond its mission.  The Author had the power to direct events instead of merely accurately recording them.  The Supreme Court has the power to direct law instead of merely interpreting it.  Accuracy is so important in both cases, because its violation has serious real-life consequences.  As the highest court, there is no recourse if the Supreme Court does not accurately interpret the law.  In fact, even Constitutional amendments cannot overrule the Supreme Court, because ultimately, the Supreme Court gets to interpret what they mean.  If the Court decides that an amendment does not apply to a certain situation, then it does not.  The Court's power gives it the ability to act as a legislative body, in addition to its stated role as a judicial body.  The Court has the power to decide the meaning of laws, which gives it the power to warp and twist any law to mean what it wants.

Now, as with The Author, the Supreme Court does not have to abuse its metaphorical magic pen.  The fact, however, is that it does.  This is becoming ever more obvious, as the statements accompanying rulings offer justifications almost entirely based in the personal opinion of the judges.  They explain that it is Constitutional or not, but they never actually explain how the Constitution played any role in the decision.  It is about morality and ethics.  It is about how the decision might affect economic, or about fairness to minorities involved.  It is never about how a specific part of the Constitution allows or forbids something.  Like The Author in the television show, the Supreme Court is using its power to control and direct the story to fit its own personal desires and opinions.  This is as blatant an abuse of power as using a magic pen to force people to commit horrible atrocities to make the story more interesting.

Unfortunately, the solution used to prevent abuse of power in the television show is not possible in the real-life situation.  We cannot just break the magic pen, to force whoever happens to be The Author to write with a mundane pen that cannot change the story.  The Supreme Court is necessary, and its responsibility to interpret law is inseparable from the inherently abusable power necessary to fulfill that responsibility.  What we really need is ethical judges that we can trust not to abuse that power.  What we need is people with a real education in and understanding of the origins of the Constitution.  We need judges who are willing to search records and writings of people who wrote and influenced the document, so they can gain a more full understanding of its intent.  We need judges who trust the Democratic process enough that they will not give into the temptation to allow their own personal opinions to influence their rulings, even when they don't agree with the results.

For a Democratic government to be successful, it must trust the people it rules.  Representatives, elected or appointed, need to stick to their appointed tasks, even when they believe that their way is better.

I believe that the entire Supreme Court needs to be replaced with honest judges, however, this is not an easy task.  This position is a life-long position, and the Constitution carefully (and wisely) protects Supreme Court Justices from being easily ousted, to prevent political abuse. Unfortunately, it also makes it difficult to oust the corrupt judges that have been appointed.  Beside that, how do we find authors who won't abuse the power of the magic pen?