Supremely controversial

Justice Kennedy is seated second
from the left in the front row

What I read

In "Supreme Court: Why a fight over US abortion law now looms," Anthony Zurcher (2018) says that although it will almost certainly succeed in the Republican controlled Senate and House of Representatives, President Donald Trump's nomination to replace US Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, who has announced his retirement, is likely to be very controversial since it has the potential to change the courts thinking on deeply divisive issues such as abortion, gay rights, the death penalty and affirmative action laws, all of which are themselves controversial in US society. 

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My response 

Although I've never studied law, it has interested me for a long time, and I did a few courses in philosophy of law while at university. And although I'm not American, I am a great admirer of the US Constitution, which has served the United States nation very well for more than 200 years, being respected even by those who strongly disagree with particular decisions and acts made under that supreme law of the United States. No US army general would ever think of staging a coup to overthrow that foundation of the rule of law in the United States, nor can I imagine that the US people would ever accept such a violation of their sovereignty over their nation. 

But as Zurcher reports, US society is often very deeply divided, and the obvious example of this is abortion, which has been controversial since the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) made abortion legal in all states in its famous decision Roe v. Wade in 1973. Ever since then, those opposed to abortion have been trying to undo that decision finding a right to abortion in the Constitution of the United States. More recently, the extension of same-sex marriage to every state in the 2015 ruling Obergefell v. Hodges was also controversial, but I think that US society quickly moved forward to largely accept that, although there are still some who are very anti-gay, as the more recent Supreme Court case concerning the Christian baker who refused to make a cake for gay wedding shows us. 

Naturally, I  also have opinions on these issues, favouring both abortion rights for women and same-sex marriage rights, but whether I agree or disagree with their rulings, I enjoy reading the SCOTUS opinions. The judges write excellent academic English as they make the case for or against a law or act being consistent with or contrary to the US Constitution. Occasionally, I've even used the syllabus of an opinion for classes I teach at AUA — the content as much as the language is a thrilling challenge for students, even if they have no intention of studying law. 

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My question

Is it a bad thing for a nation to have deeply divided opinions on issues? 

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Reference

• Zurcher, A. (2018, June 27). Supreme Court: Why a fight over US abortion law now looms. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44569514