Blog #3

Refer to the cartoon posted here. Identify the point of view of the cartoonist. Do you agree or disagree with it? Explain your position, using Supreme Court cases to illustrate your argument. "Do you ever have one of those days when everything seems unconstitutional?"

The cartoonist is portraying the Supreme Court as selfish and uncaring of others.  They will deem something unconstitutional because it's just "one of those days" and because they feel like it.  The Supreme Court doesn't really give a lot of thought into some cases.  The cartoonist makes it seem like the judges aren't very qualified or professional, which can be true because technically there really aren't any qualifications to become Federal judges.  One example of the Supreme Court's indifference is the Scottsboro Boys Trial.  In 1931, nine black boys in Alabama were accused of raping two white women.  The youngest of the boys, who was 13 years old, was accused of rape and found guilty and was sentenced to death.  The boys did not have a strong representation in court and the trials were rushed.  Afterwards, the two women admitted to lying about being raped.  I think that the jury knew what their verdict would be before they even heard the defense's arguments and evidence.  I agree that the Supreme Court can be uncaring and unfair but I also think it depends on the time period and the circumstances.  The Scottsboro case took place in a time when there was a lot of inequality in America and blacks discriminated and treated like they were the inferior race.  This was a time when white people had all the power.  In government, the whites ruled and because Congress appoints federal judges, the judges were all white and supported Congress's ideas.  This is still a flaw today.  The fact that only Congress has the power to appoint judges makes it so that the judges closely follow the governments beliefs and that can make it so there is unequal representation in the Supreme Court.