May It Please the Court

Would the greatest commandment survive a court challenge?

The U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t often overturn its own decisions, but it does happen. Since the court was established in 1789, it has written more than 25,000 decisions, which then became the law of the land (Roos, history.com). Of those decisions, only 146 — a mere one-half of one percent — have been overturned. Roe v. Wade is the most recent. In place for nearly 50 years, a generation of Americans had grown up with it.

 

When Lawyers Get Involved

The reason the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) gets involved is because where there’s a law there’s a lawyer. This is not a bad thing. It’s just how it works. Laws get tested. Unfair laws are reviewed. Unintended consequences may bring a law under scrutiny. A small business owner may decide to challenge the ruling of a lower court, shake her fist in the face of the magistrate, and vow to “take this all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.”

In today’s gospel...