How the Supreme Court would affect decisions
The first question to look at with the Supreme Court, supposedly the most unbiased of all parties in the United States system, is “just how friendly should US Supreme Court justices be with friends of the court, the amici who file briefs based on their interests in a case where they aren’t litigants” (Livni)? This may seem like some simple business meeting in any other field, but for the Supreme Court it can create many concerns with ethics and procedure. Who would the next meeting be with? Did this meeting affect the justices upcoming decision? What can I do to help make them prefer my side of a case? These questions should never be brought into such a crucial and volatile system. When personal beliefs get brought into the law and cases, what evidence can be used? There is no basis for personal beliefs, and it is why the personal viewpoints should always be left out of any case. The law is the law, and it is absolute. The Supreme Court can help the definition be more understood, but if they start to use their beliefs then lower courts will and soon it will infect every court, removing the original purpose of the judicial system. This answer can be seen within Protected Entity when the ghost of Captain Jonathan Arthur Calhoun III is encountered. He is a ghost from slave trading times, and are trying to find the source of missing black children ghosts in the city of New York that Riley and the protagonist, Agent Washington, have been assigned with solving. The Captain has a personal view of “the extinction of the black race has to begin somewhere. Why not in the uppermost echelons” (Older) as he was a rich man when he was trading slaves from decades ago. His personal belief, that other races are inferior, infected society from his time period, keeping blacks as slaves and limiting their rights. Assuming this story happens in a similar New York City, it would be decades before his beliefs would only start to be overturned since racism had become so ingrained within personal beliefs. He is even given the status of a “confirmed protected entity. He is not to be touched, harmed, or insulted” (Older) by the organization for some unknown reason. This preference of keeping a racist slave trader alive in the paranormal world will only hurt society the longer it goes on as he is trying to remove blacks from the spirit world, thereby removing any peace and solace from them after their deaths. If the Supreme Court follows this trend of following personal preference, it is only a matter of time before all matters presented before it is given decisions without any true weight of explanations behind them. Just the decision and any penalties that will come by disobeying, as Agent Washington and Riley experienced when they first met the Captain. A more specific example to follow would be some rights that have been debated about in the 14th Amendment, such as laws and rulings that are decided based on race more than on a just and fair legal system.