The Constantine Option

Should Justice Barrett Step Down?

I expect some of you will disagree with the position I'm about to take. That's to be expected from time to time, I ask only that you read all the way through before you pass judgement on whether I am right or wrong.

The Hearing

Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan testified this week before Congress on the subject of the Court's request for increased security funding. Evidently, there has been a crescendo of threats directed at Supreme Court Justices in recent years, especially surrounding the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade. Justice Barrett's testimony has been widely circulated this week. Naturally, as a deciding vote in the Dobbs decision, she faced a significant proportion of the threat pressure from left-wing activists.

The significance of this hearing has little to do with the threats themselves, and much more to do with how they found Justice Barrett.

The Office

You may be tempted to blame our tense political climate for these threats, but I must remind you of the nature of the office. The Supreme Court is not free of the tendency of all high office to attract violence and persecution. Confirmation hearings for new Justices are perhaps the best example of this, it's an infamously brutal process. Consider the words of Justice Kavanaugh: "The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out," or of Justice Thomas: "I’d rather die than withdraw. If they’re gonna kill me they’re gonna kill me."

I do not mean to diminish the outrage of threats against our Justices, I only mean to illustrate that high office is not for the faint of heart, and so it has always been.

The Justice

This brings us back to Justice Barrett's testimony this week. She discussed her experience in the wake of the Dobbs case, including being sent home with a bulletproof vest. "My 12 year old son... wanted to know what it was and why I had it," she explained, "I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my ⁠children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one."

I encourage you to go watch the video of this testimony and arrive at your own conclusion, but I would illustrate it this way: imagine your own mother in this story. She looked just like how I would imagine my mother would, scared and stressed. She was relatively composed, it's not as though she broke down and cried, but it was clear that this and the other incidents she described have taken a toll on her.

In a vacuum, I do not fault her for this just as I would not fault my own mother for it. Mothers are especially sensitive to danger, as well they should be, because children are especially vulnerable. However, we must understand Justice Barrett not in a vacuum, or in relation to motherhood, but in relation to the office of Supreme Court Justice.

The Robe

Justices wear black robes to symbolize their impartiality. The robe obfuscates their very identity, because their personal concerns are irrelevant in the service of justice itself. For many, this hearing has called into question whether Amy Coney Barrett is really capable of performing this task. Some have called for her resignation.

This doubt is not unreasonable, and as you may have guessed, I share it. This hearing has been an excellent illustration of the limitations of the feminine spirit in general, and I do not mean that as an insult. Masculinity has its own limitations also, particularly in grace, empathy, and even self-preservation, at times. Femininity is just the opposite, abounding in these even to a fault. Of course, whether these characteristics are a fault depends entirely on context: in a war, they are fatal shortcomings, but in a nursery they're indispensable. So it is that women are more suitable nurturers of children, and men are more suitable soldiers. More to the subject, it has been established at some length that the Court is much more like a warzone than like a nursery, that was the very subject on the table at this Congressional hearing. What are we to conclude, then?

We must conclude that the appointment of women to our highest Court is misguided, not on account of any defect in women but on account of their virtues. The timidity displayed by Justice Barrett is not any kind of fault in her, it is desirable in a mother, but it is unbecoming of a Justice. Ask yourself: will threats against her be discouraged or emboldened after this display? Moreover, what is the remedy? Should we expect a mother to behave unmotherly? Perhaps we should consider cats for service in K-9 units next, or attempt to breed daisies to produce hardwood.

Those of you who may be yet unconvinced, consider that the popular notion "women can do anything men can do" is the very foundation of transgenderism. If you reduce the sexes to their very anatomy, detesting that any other nature should be attributed to them independently, you make impossible any rejection of sex reassignment. It becomes no different than any cosmetic surgery, because that's all it is, cosmetic.

If you have any thoughts of your own on this matter, do me the honor of replying to this email, I read every one.

God bless you,

Editor

The Constantine Option