Roper and The Loss of Shame

I fear that Justice Anthony Kennedy has lost all sense of shame (see George Will, Armstrong Williams, Jeff Jacoby, David Limbaugh, Mark Alexander, Rich Tucker).

There is usually a tether that binds each of us to institutions of our society; to our nation, to our city of birth, to our friends from our youth, or to our family. We so much value these ties that bind us to our roots that we go out of our way to avoid disgrace - particularly if such disgrace would be found out by our parents (or children), by our old school mates, or by "those back home." Kennedy, it seems, feels no more sense of belonging to this imperfect society of mere mortals. He has now transcended our realm of existence.

As much as I really disagree with most of what he writes, Pete Hamill once wrote a very quotable paragraph or two:

The sense of shame is a kind of cement in any decent society. The fear of shame reminds each of us that some things must not be done. You don't become a criminal because you would bring shame to your family. You don't employ muscle against the weak. You don't beat up women or prey on the old. You don't father children and then abandon them. You don't cheat or swindle because exposure would coat you with the tar of shame. You don't preach high ideals and live a lie.

But it's clear that we are now awash in shamelessness. It's clear that the sense of shame needs to be revived and the shameless held to account.

Pete Hamill, in this piece, was writing about his liberal cause du jour. But, he was dead-right when he mentions that shame is useful as it prevents us from stepping too far out of line. Justice Anthony Kennedy seems to have broken all ties to the "conservative" loyalties of his youth and now appears to feel no shame whatsoever as he sets himself up to be some reincarnation of Lycurgus the lawgiver.

Just like the self-indulgent alchoholic who feels no shame as he looks up from the gutter in his drunken state of vomit-covered filth, Justice Kennedy appears to have no remorse for his bald grab for power over our legislative system. He must have broken free from his connection to our system of jurisprudence based on constitutionality and precedent (and loved by we mere mortals). It seems from Roper vs. Simmons (see also this post) that he is intoxicated with his own feelings of self importance and feels little need to justify his assertions of constitutional obligations by referencing our actual constitution. Apparently to him, his opinion of what constitutes international opinion and "evolving standards of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society" trump the actual constitution and the express will of legislatures.

As Kennedy has allowed himself to think his personal opinion of right and wrong trumps his sworn duty to uphold the constitution, he proves himself to be caught up in a eurphoric state of power. He and four other like-minded "liberal thinkers" are able to usurp power over the express will of elected state officials and the juries that try the sad cases involving minors and murder. What is incredible is that Kennedy's grab for power over the legislative branch is done without an ounce of apparent shame. Kennedy doesn't resort to constitutional arguments, he doesn't feel he has to do so. Instead, it is self-focused, as if his views of right and wrong supercede those of all other humans.

I for one am ashamed that we have allowed our supreme court to think that they can legislate from the bench.