Going Courting

One of the things that the fight over confirming Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States had brought home for me is that for many people, the job of the Court is not to determine what the Constitution allows or does not allow. Instead, the job of a Court Justice is to ensure that the determinations reached by the political party that put them there are affirmed. And an ideological majority results in the Court having that same job.

And in this sense, the Supreme Court is a political body. Which is what one would expect of it. There is nothing about being a judge that renders one above the ideological divide that the rest of the nation endures. The public views their interests through their ideology, and votes for legislators and executives that will advance those interests. The President seeks to appoint justices that their voters approve of, and legislators vet them for adherence to ideological orthodoxy.

This strikes me as perhaps unfortunate, but not unexpected. And it not a failure of Democracy, as mediating enduring ideological disputes is not the purpose of Democratic governance.