Evil Document Casts Spell on Judges

Conservatives are always whining about how Supreme Court justices move to the left under the corrupting influence of - uh - I don't know, hanging out with Supreme Court justices, I guess. Here's a typical rant from David Frum at National Review Online -

There have just been too many instances of seeming conservatives being sent to the high Court, only to succumb to the prevailing vapors up there: O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter. Given that record, it is simply reckless for any conservative president to take a hazard on anything other than a known quantity of the highest intellectual and personal excellence.

The pressures on a Supreme Court justice to shift leftward are intense. There is the negative pressure of the vicious, hostile press that legal conservatives must endure. And there are the sweet little inducements--the flattery, the invitations to conferences in Austria and Italy, the lectureships at Yale and Harvard--that come to judges who soften and crumble. Harriet Miers is a taut, nervous, anxious personality. It is hard for me to imagine that she can endure the anger and abuse--or resist the blandishments--that transformed, say, Anthony Kennedy into the judge he is today.

Yeah, "vapors". That's it. Or perhaps the Supreme Court building is possessed by demons.

I have an alternative explanation - Supreme Court justices fall under the evil influence of the Constitution. Supreme Court justices are supposed to rule on the basis of constitutional law, even if it conflicts with their personal beliefs. Decisions are based on interpreting the Constitution, not by twisting the law to fit what one believes in one's heart.

Maybe they drift to the left because it's right.