In Star Wars VI, there is an exchange between Luke and the spirit of Obi-Wan where Luke questioned him about the death of his father. Obi-Wan explains “… So, what I told you was true… from a certain point of view.” “… you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”
We see this play out in our galaxy all the time. During criminal trials, theoretically a quest for truth and justice, prosecution and defense expert witnesses carefully examine the exact same pieces of evidence and come to completely opposite conclusions. Both, according to these highly educated and respected experts in their fields, are the absolute truth.
How is this possible? Aren’t the facts the facts and the truth the truth?
A political example comes from the impeachment and acquittal of then President Bill Clinton. In a deposition he stated: “I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. “ His statement was predicated on his definition of “sexual relations” to mean only vaginal intercourse. So, what he said was true, from his point of view. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say most men could not expect to survive this particular defense strategy with their partners.
The reality is there is no such thing as a single truth. The truth for each of us is an interpretation of what we bring in through our senses and run through a filter of education and experiences as well as our own beliefs and personal prejudices.
So why is this so important right now? With the passing of Senior Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a replacement must be appointed to the bench. Justice Scalia, the longest serving justice of the court at the time of his death, was a strong and vibrant jurist noted for his originalism interpretation of the Constitution. He was the author of many important decisions, including the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller, a critical Second Amendment ruling.
If the truth was always the truth, any qualified jurist could be appointed to the Supreme Court. The decisions made by a Democrat or Republican appointed Justice would be the same. All decisions would be the simple, inescapable truth based on the facts and the law, and nothing but the facts and the law.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Presidents appoint Supreme Court justices with views similar to their own who are likely to rule in a manner consistent with their certain point of view. With these lifetime appointments, Presidents are influencing the outcome of cases brought before the nation’s highest court for decades.
Our current President has already shown a shocking disrespect for the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rule of law. He now has the opportunity to replace a conservative jurist with an originalist approach with one more in line with his views. Names reportedly on the President’s initial shortlist include those who have a well-documented history of seeking to gut the protections of the Bill of Rights in pursuit of a politically motived agenda.
While I abhor partisan political games regardless of the party involved in them, I shudder to think of the long term implications to American’s rights should our current President appoint a new Supreme Court Justice during his final months in office.
This is of course a game and all games must come to an end. And of course, not all games are won. What we hope for is the individual elected as our 45th President will respect the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rule of law, as well as the citizens of the nation it protects. Given the infighting from all our potential nominees, this is far from a sure thing.
Justice Scalia’s death raises the stakes for this year’s Presidential election significantly. Not only for the candidates running for office, but for our current Senators who must play the game very carefully until the general election. It also falls upon us – the voters – to actively participate now and choose wisely at the polls in November.
Bob
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