Last week, we learned that Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom the GOP put on the Supreme Court in the dying days of Trump’s presidency, will be paid a $2 million advance for a book about how judges are not supposed to bring their personal feelings into how they rule. Set aside for a moment the unseemliness of Barrett so rapidly cashing in on her new position. More important is the signal Barrett’s book deal sends about the Supreme Court. If it weren’t for the Court’s extraordinary power—to create rights, and, as Roe v. Wade and the right to legal abortion hang in the balance, to take them away—no publisher would pay that kind of money for a novice judge’s opinions.
All of which should lead us to ask why nine unelected judges are given the power to make so many important decisions in the first place. Most Americans perceive the Court as an integral part of our democracy. But in reality, the relationship of judges to democracy is more complicated, and at times, antagonistic.
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