The Supremely Political Supreme Court

THERE ARE CURRENTLY five conservative justices on the United States Supreme Court, all appointed by conservative republican presidents, and approved by conservative republican congressional majorities. There are four "liberal" justices, (or less conservative ones) all appointed by democratic presidents and confirmed by democrat congressional majorities. Identifying justices according to their political ideology is easier than predicting whether any given politician seeking elective office will tell the truth and fulfill campaign promises when elected. Damned easy. And really, it shouldn't be easy at all. All justices should resided in a murky realm beyond easy categorization, because they should all be neither liberal nor conservative, but both, and, at other times, neither. Just get me the best lawyer available, said President Ford, before nominating John Paul Stevens. That was forty years ago, and was the last time an American president made a choice based on anything other than judicial-political ideology. Sometimes there are surprises, as when bush the first chose Justice Souter, thinking him a conservative, but ended up being wrong, oh, so very wrong. Only once within the past generation has any justice defied his own ideology; when Chief Justice Roberts voted for, and saved, the mandatory purchase of Obamacare. Chances are, the likes of that won't be seen again. The Chief Justice, in so doing, blew all his political capital, and that, for a justice of the united States Supreme Court, is, tragically, the ultimate sin.