The last days of a Supreme Court term rarely show off the Justices to great advantage. Like other mortals, they have put off doing their hardest work, so only the most controversial cases remain. They are tired. They are frustrated. By a vote of 6-3, they need haircuts. (Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan appear recently barbered; Stephen Breyer is bald.) But none of the usual end-of-year excuses explain the behavior in court yesterday of Antonin Scalia.-Jeffrey Toobin, continuing in his quest to convince me to burn the Supreme Court to the ground. I haven't finished an article of his in a while because I tend to drop the magazine at the two-thirds mark, my hands quaking with warm, slippery rage.
The Supreme Court hears what, twenty cases a year? It is THE EASIEST JOB ON EARTH. Yeah, you have to be really smart. I think the selection committee checks to see if you went to your high school prom, and if you were able to find a date, 'yer out (John Roberts excepted: you just know that guy was student body president). But mostly, you sit around, you ask some snotty questions (or not, Clarence Thomas), you deny sexually harrassing your staff (Clarence Thomas), you vote, and you have your overqualified clerks write an opinion. Oh my Goooooooooooood they must be soooooooooooo tiiiiiiiiiiiiired.
I used to admire the Supreme Court, but I'm pretty sure they haven't done anything good for the country since 1973. Now it seems like a playground for Thomas and Scalia to apply theoretical principles from the Constitution to a country that needs much more. Kennedy's the yard monitor who says yes or no.
Also disheartening is that justices have life terms, and my sneaking suspicion that John Roberts is going to live forever.
