America is up in arms about a US Supreme Court decision. Former president Donald Trump, who has not yet said his last word, succeeded during the four years of his tenure to effect a revolution in the makeup of the judges in the US Supreme Court.
In America, judges are not chosen by an inner clique like in little Israel, but by the sitting president, as it has been conducted for the past many years. Nor is there any mandatory age for retirement; rather, judges can willingly resign or leave the position through a "call from On High".
Thus, a president cannot always appoint judges or affect the makeup of the court. During Trump's office, three judges left the court, so that of the nine seats, he was able to appoint three new judges of conservative leanings in the spirit of the Republican Party, and create a solid majority of conservative judges, six all told, vs. three liberal ones.
A suit was laid before the court to nullify a ruling enacted dozens of years ago, allowing abortion throughout all the states. The Court ruled in 1983 that there is a US Constitutional right for a woman to have an abortion.
In their new ruling, the judges did not forbid abortion but rather determined that the Federal government has nothing to say about it, so that each state can pass its own legislation according to local decision. This opened the door for Republican states to forbid abortion, which stirred up a storm.
Can this be? Aren't the Liberals known to be the knights of ethical standards, standard bearers of humanism, defenders of democracy and the rights of the individual and whoever believes otherwise is a fanatic, benighted, stubborn, racist and anything resembling such ideals?
Judaism, to be sure, has a clear-cut stand on the matter, while this is not the issue here, but the court's authority per se in big America and small time Israel. Not everything can fall under their jurisdiction as being judiciable. There are issues which fall under the value of ethics and morality, which are not connected to the courts.
There is a demand in America to limit the power and scope of the courts and create a legislative override of the court, American-style. Thus, the court system will have no influence upon democratic processes as is prevalent here in Israel.
A legislative system which is good and worthy - so long as it serves the interests of the 'enlightened camp', as Aharon Barak termed it. But the moment that it veers slightly away from the expectations of this camp which rules the media and attempts to enforce its ideology upon public opinion - its supporters will take up arms and hurl every possible abuse against them. And when the Right rises to power, the cry will be to "change the people", as someone once stated. The judicial system somewhat limits liberal decadence that they will now say, "the time has come to change the judges."
