Supreme Court Nomination in Honour of John Paul Stevens

WWe will be hearing more about Republican Fillibusters of Supreme Court Justice with the retirement of John Paul Stevens. The problem is our Rube-GoldBerg system has the President choose judges for the Supreme Court who then make decisions by close margins (like five-to- four) on such important matters as a women's "right to choose" versus "right to life" and Bush Versus Gore.

There is an alternative, allow all citizens to form the Supreme Court, rather than just nine judges. The constitution sets no limit on the number of Supreme Court justices, nor does its provide for a "Chief Justice." These decisions are made by the Congress. The nine existing judges would have a Chief-Justice role. If they vote unanimously, as they did in Brown vs. Board of Topeka Kansas to outlaw school desegration, or United States versus Nixon that decides the issue. However, in closer votes, the matter gets thrown to the entire voting population.

There is a way of organizing decisions, based upon factors, that preserves precedential value for future decisions. This technique is used to develop computer-aided-learning systems train lawyers to make arguments to a court at the University of Pittsburgh. Factors make clear what an opinion means. The role of the current justices would thus often be to identify the possible ways of combining factors to decide the case at bench. However, determing which way applies, which is where moral values is used to determine which judgment to deliver, will be given to the people.