Justices are human, too

To the Editor,

Amy Coney Barrett

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee started confirmation hearings to purportedly vet Amy Coney Barrett for a seat on the Supreme Court. The avowed goal of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party is to have her confirmed before the November 3 election. Few people dispute the judicial credentials of Judge Barrett to sit on the court, and her legal acumen has never been challenged. But let’s dispense with the long-standing illusion that she or any other justice can be totally dispassionate in their interpretation of the law. The myth is that these justices have superhuman powers to interpret exactly what the intention of a law is and how it was meant to be implemented, without any biases affecting their ruling. This is nonsense. 

Neither everyday humans nor Supreme Court justices have the Vulcan-like ability (like Mr. Spock on “Star Trek”) to be free of emotional bias in their decision-making. Let’s set aside this canard and face reality. Amy Coney Barrett, if confirmed, like all the justices past and present, will bring with her to the court all of the implicit cognitive biases that are part of her being. These biases, whether imprinted upon her by her parents, her education, her religion, or by evolution, cannot be completely removed from her verdicts. But an explicit recognition that these biases exist and have real influence can offer justices a chance to minimize their effects. Supreme Court justices, like all members of Homo sapiens, have all the frailties and foibles that are an integral part of our humanity. Let’s deny this no longer.

Ken Derow
Swarthmore