#1050 Supreme Number

I make it a point to avoid politics in these essays. There are plenty of pundits out there bringing histrionic arguments to the airwaves.
I blame Jerry Springer. If he hadn’t proved ratings go up because Americans love people fighting we probably wouldn’t have all those confrontational talk shows on Fox News and MSNBC.
I just get tired of people shouting at each other. Life is tough enough; do we really need more conflict? So I subscribe to the simple rule I learned as a bartender—Never discuss religion or politics.
But I can discuss math.
Apparently, a number of prime folks on the right side of the aisle have a problem with math. A group of these people are set against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice. They are neither sympathetic nor empathetic towards her. But their last argument ended up being simply pathetic.
Here’s what happened. When they nominate Supremes, it’s typical to look at how the nominees decided past cases. Not long ago, Sotomayor was in the majority of a 3-judge appellate court who voted a certain way on a case. The plaintiffs were unhappy with the outcome so they took it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court just reversed the decision.
Conservative opponents of Sotomayor’s nomination pounced. “See?” They said. “Sotomayor doesn’t agree with the court. This is proof she’s outside the mainstream. She decided one way and the Supreme Court decided the other. How can she be on the Supreme Court when she doesn’t agree with them?”
Here’s where the math comes in. It was a majority decision, not a unanimous decision. Only five of the Supreme Court Justices voted against the thing that Sotomayor voted for. Four of the Supreme Court Justices voted for the thing Sotomayor voted for.
So if there were a ten-person court it would be five to five.
The Supreme Court has been defined as the court that decides cases about which reasonable people disagree. Almost all their decisions seem to be 5 to 4.
But here’s the really interesting item; David Souter, the Supreme Sotomayor is replacing, voted the same way she did.
That must count for something.
America, ya gotta love it.