A woman I know told me a story. She happened to be outside a store where she was taking care of her five-year-old grandson while her daughter, the boy’s mother, was across town running some errands. Three teenage boys burst out of the store and sprinted off, carrying a bag they had obviously just stolen. The shopkeeper emerged and asked the woman which was they had gone. The woman imagined herself spending the rest of the day filing police reports, her grandson in tow. So she told the shopkeeper that she didn’t see them.

Advertisement

That is Chief Justice John Roberts. His dread of controversy compels him to squirm out of principled decisions. More times than not, he sides with the status quo for the simple fact that he knows he will take less heat for sticking with it rather than changing it. His default position is Do Nothing. Do nothing with ObamaCare by calling it a tax. Do nothing with the spurious 2020 presidential election by denying the appealing attorneys general standing. Do nothing about allowing children born here of non-citizens to automatically become citizens by cobbling together some legal gobbledegook. These are just three examples of where his sacrifice of principle has caused America immense harm. Taking a principled stand can take courage. Substituting expediency for principle never does.

Another story. I know a brilliant woman. She is MENSA. She graduated at the top of her class and rose to the pinnacle of her profession. She can debate you until you surrender and destroy you at chess. But she can’t drive a car. It’s terrifying to be in one with her when she tries. Mundane, practical, day-to-day decisions are difficult for her. She left her devoted husband in search of romance, and now she’s alone. Her mind makes her a queen in the academy and an urchin on the street.

Advertisement

This is Associate Justice Amy Comey Barrett. There’s no connection between a decision and its consequences. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, intellect, temperament and experience to solving a problem. Decisions tethered by wisdom are like kites that dance steady in the wind. Decisions untethered by wisdom are kites that careen between unforeseen, unintended consequences until they inevitably crash to earth as ruin and wreckage. A shortage of wisdom explains why a fine person with a fine intellect can make such shockingly ghastly bad decisions, like she just did on the birthright citizenship matter. She can’t foresee the consequences of her decisions. Our problem is that when it comes to wisdom, you either have it or you don’t, and she’ll likely be on the bench for a long time.

Advertisement

Image: Carlos M. Vasquez II and Rachel Malehorn