On Monday I posted about how we are seeing younger Supreme Court picks, which in turn means we will have justices remain in the high court even longer. I also said how that is damaging to our country, since the court won’t keep up with the changes of society. Today we have a picture perfect example of this.
The Supreme Court is currently taking up a case involving texting. To you and me that might seem kind of common, but to the justices, who are old and/or living in the dark ages, this case is just way over their head:
The first sign was about midway through the argument, when Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. – who is known to write out his opinions in long hand with pen and paper instead of a computer – asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?”
Other justices’ questions showed that they probably don’t spend a lot of time texting and tweeting away from their iPhones either.
At one point, Justice Anthony Kennedy asked what would happen if a text message was sent to an officer at the same time he was sending one to someone else.
“Does it say: ‘Your call is important to us, and we will get back to you?’” Kennedy asked.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrangled a bit with the idea of a service provider.
“You mean (the text) doesn’t go right to me?” he asked.
Then he asked whether they can be printed out in hard copy.
For the Chief Justice, and one of the youngest members, to not even know the different between email and a pager in this technological age is mind boggling. My grandmother can tell you the difference between a pager and email and she is a hell of a lot older than Roberts.
We are in an age when more and more technological cases will reach the high court and we need a court that understands, at a minimum, the basics of the world we live in today. If not then President Obama should go ahead and just appoint Ted Stevens so he can regulate all the tubes our internet activity goes through.