The Good, The Bad, and Justice Scalia

Observations on the Supreme Court:

1) Tonight I had a chance to catch part of a speech on C-SPAN. Normally, I avoid this channel like it's my job, but this was a speech by Supreme Court Justice Scalia, and it was really entertaining. I was really shocked by two things-Scalia's constant impatience with the crowd (interrupting, refusing to answer questions, etc.) and the rudeness of so many of the people who came to hear him speak. One student made some lame joke about Scalia going duck hunting with Vice President Cheney; another held on to the mic for several minutes, rambling about nothing before it was ripped away from him.

I just have two questions for anyone who acts like a 2-year-old at these events: how did you get invited, and how were you smart enough, and so uncouth, as to get into law school in the first place? I have to admit that it's funny to watch a kid who looks like Napoleon Dynamite get manhandled and thrown out into the hallway, but to treat any guest like that, particularly a Supreme Court justice, is idiotic and way out of line. Sometimes it worries me to think that these people are going to be my colleagues before long.

By the way....I'm a conservative and I tend to agree more with Scalia's point of view on a lot of issues, but I do think that he tends to invite confrontation with his rhetoric. Calling people who believe in a living Constitution "idiots" recently, even at a Federalist Society meeting, almost seems to egg these losers on.

2) The Court has decided to take up partial birth abortion again, in Gonzales v. Carhart. Just as a background, the Court ruled on partial birth abortion back in 2000, in Stenberg v. Carhart, striking down a similar ban for not providing an exception for the mother's health. There had been a ban on partial-birth abortion, and President Bush signed a national ban into law in 2003, but trial judges in New York, Nebraska, and California ruled it unconstitutional. Now the Court is ready to hear the case again, this time with Roberts and Alito in for Rehnquist and O'Connor.

I believe the Court is going to uphold the ban as constitutional. Justice O'Connor was the swing vote last time, and Justice Alito, her successor, is probably not going to rule the same way, if his opinion in Casey v. Planned Parenthood was any indication. Roberts is still a relative unknown, but I think his vote will be an even match for Rehnquist. If everyone else keeps the same vote, this ban is going to stick around in a 5-4 ruling.

My feeling is that pro-choicers are going to take the loss on this one. And I couldn't be more glad to get rid of partial-birth abortion. It's cruel, barbaric, and unnecessary, and there is something seriously wrong with our values when we allow late-term infanticide, but a rapist-killer in California doesn't get executed because he might feel as much pain as a booster shot.

3) Maybe I'm wrong, but is partial-birth abortion not the only issue where a "red herring" comes into the decision-making processes of these judges? Is it a red herring, or does the health of the mother really matter? And I don't mean that judges don't apply the law and legal reasoning, just that sometimes I think all this about "an exception for the mother's health" or "saving the mother's life" just ends up being a proxy for the real cultural divide. And I don't think anyone, not even the Supreme Court, can bring those two sides together right now.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day makes me sick. Or at least I used to think so.

When I was in elementary school, every year our school would have a Valentine's Day party. The kids would go buy their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or My Little Pony valentines, write one for everybody in the class (and their teacher), and drop them in little paper bags on everyone's desk. And every year, my mom would go up to the school, pick up my valentine bag, and bring it home to me, because I was sick in bed. In five years of elementary school, this happened four times, plus again in junior high and high school.

The reason I thought it made me sick wasn't because I came down with something every February. Until this year, I thought the whole thing was just another exercise in conspicuous consumption. I thought everyone was struggling to keep up with the popular culture's pressure to spend money on dinner, flowers, jewelry, etc., or stay home and stew over not having a reason to. I would tell everyone who would listen about how Valentine's Day is an ancient Roman custom that has been hijacked by restaurant owners, card companies, and anyone else who wants to make a dollar at our expense.

But this kind of thinking misses the real point. Yes, the popular culture version of it is all red and pink, alcohol and fancy dinners, and diamond bracelets. But instead of focusing on how that conception is wrong, we need to look at what we should do instead.

If we are married, engaged, dating, etc., it should be a time to examine our relationship with the other person-whether we are showing them every day, not just one day, how important they are to us, and how we value them as a friend and a companion. Christians, we should all take the time to look at whether that relationship is glorifying God, and if we are putting Him at the center. He is the Author of every love story.

I'm single, but I'm not going to let Valentine's Day go by without taking a look at myself, and the kind of man God is creating to be a companion to my future wife. If it is His will that I be married one day, am I growing in the Lord, in holiness, so that I can provide what she needs from her husband? I don't bring this up to sound presumptuous, or get ahead of where I should be at this stage of my life, but I believe that just thinking about where I want to be later on will make me a better follower of God now, and a better husband and father when, and if, the time comes.

As individuals, whether Christian or not, we can always examine ourselves to see where our lives are headed, and if what we are doing now points us to that goal. And whether single, married, or otherwise, we can use Valentine's Day as a way to have fun and share a special day with others, but also to look at ourselves. And that's nothing to get sick over.

Motivation

It's February now, and I can't believe we're four weeks into this semester already. The way the schedule is set up at our school, we had exams in December, then we started class again the second week of January. I wasn't motivated then, and I don't feel motivated now.

I don't know what it is, but this semester has really felt like a drag. I know I said I was going to do things differently in 2006, but so far it feels a lot like 2005. The bottom line is, I just don't have a lot of motivation to do work. I got a lousy grade in one of my classes, and the exam is six weeks away, yet I only have 3 pages of the outline done (which will probably come to 30). I come back to my apartment from class at about 3:00, after our last class, and I sit on my rear end watching TV, playing video games, or doing anything but what I should be doing. It hurts to say this, but I have lost my mojo.

I don't know what I need to do, but I have to get a fire lit under me to work in law school. I do OK, but I need to be exceptional. What really hurts is that I know I am capable of great things if I can just overcome how overwhelmed I feel right now.

Today in class, one of our professors talked about a general principle of the legal profession (which probably applies to a lot of other professions too): the more time you put into being a law student, or being a lawyer, the more success you have. I understand that to be true, yet why do I handicap myself by not doing more? I should be 100% devoted to law school right now, yet I feel torn between spending time with family, recreation, time with God, and a host of other things. I know I am in law school for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to serve the Lord in some capacity. I just wish I knew how to light the fire, or to ask Him to help me get motivated, and I hope it will happen soon.

Introduction

This is the first post on my blog. I just wanted to make an introductory post to tell a little bit about who I am. My name is Brian, and I am a law student at Ohio State University. I am 22 years old and as a born-again Christian, I am eager to become an attorney so that I can work as a litigator and, eventually, represent Christians and traditional values in the legal system.

Not a whole lot else to say right now. I will fill in the blanks as I make more posts.