I could never be a Supreme Court Justice. There’s no danger of my ever becoming one, but if there was, I’d have to remove myself from consideration. I’m too emotional of a person. I can’t look at big issues objectively. I form opinions very fast, and once they’re formed, that’s it. There’s no going back.
But I admire people who can be objective, especially if their objectivity leads them to an opinion that I agree with.
So, yeah, I was very excited yesterday when the Supreme Court decision came down to saving Obama’s health care law. I felt it was right. The law was and is constitutional because of the tax component. Besides, unlike other areas of the economy, the consumer doesn’t decide what types of health care they are going to need or purchase. So the free-market principal doesn’t completely apply.
And, of course, I wanted the law to be saved. I think it will help people. I think that the people who don’t want it don’t completely understand it, and I base that off multiple polls that show that people only oppose the bill because they don’t realize what’s in it.
Lastly, I wanted the law to survive because if it didn’t, it would be a huge blow for Obama. In my mind, he needs to win this November.
I wasn’t expecting such good news. And so many people got it wrong! I heard that even Obama himself was watching CNN for the verdict, and CNN originally said that the law had been struck down. Of course, they had to change that headline once they realized their mistake. Then, for a large part of the day, the headlines were about John Roberts.
I couldn’t stop talking about him last night. I admit, when he was first appointed I wasn’t on his side. But last night I was going on and on about how he’s saved the court from becoming a political entity, and how awesome it is that he wrote the majority opinion, and who’d have thought that he would stand up and do the right thing?
After a while, Monty turned to me and said, “You’re in love with John Roberts, aren’t you?”
Monty knows about my penchant for idealistic trailblazers; it’s actually one of the reasons why I married him. So I know he doesn’t feel too threatened. Besides, it would never work between Roberts and me. Sure, we’d have a brief moment of paradise, high off this ruling. But then we’d have to face reality.
Our only commonality stems from our differences. He was actually able to look at something objectively. He doesn’t agree with the policy, but still, he knows that this policy is allowed under the constitution. I could never distance myself that way.
And the sad thing is, most Supreme Court justices are the same as me in that regard. People don’t think of the Supreme Court as one party, they think of them as the “liberal court” and the “conservative court.” This was true even before Bush v Gore. And sadly, while yesterday’s decision was a step in the right direction, I don’t think that’s going to ever really change. By nature, most people aren’t objective.
So I guess I’ll stay with Monty, who is as subjective about most of the major issues as I am. I’d say that’s John Robert’s loss, but we both know, it’s just not that simple.
