Supreme Court Musings

The Supreme Court has been in the news quite a bit lately. This brings several things to mind. In 1999 Conan O'Brien began making predictions of things that would come to pass in the year 2000 - - interestingly, he's never stopped, and just a few weeks ago I saw him making more predictions of what would occur in the year 2000. But back in 1999, he made this bold prediction: "In the year 2000 it will be discovered that the Supreme Court is nothing more than regular court with sour cream and tomatoes." Years earlier a co-worker of mine, Dave Wright, was embroiled in a campaign scandal arising out of his candidacy for the position of the Athletic Vice President in the student government at Brigham Young University. The matter was brought before the "BYU Supreme Court." One of the justices called him the most evasive witness in the history of the BYU Supreme Court. He apparently took it as a compliment. I feel free to mention Dave's name as the controversy was a matter of public record. My final story, while not a story about a supreme court, is, nonetheless, a story. At Grant Junior High School, in Littleton, Colorado, I had home room (a kind of study hall) in the classroom of my English teacher, Mrs. Morrison. There were 7 periods during the day, and I had my home room during 5th period. I had completed my homework for day, and noticed a film projector right next to my desk. I got up and studied the way the projector worked. I adjusted the lens all the way in, then all the way out - - I was surprised to see that by adjusting the lens all the way out, one could actually remove the lens. I put the lens back in. The next day I was sitting in Mr. Ribelin's shop class. We were all working on projects at our desks. Mr. McPherson, the assistant principal, appeared in the room. He went to Mr. Ribelin, whispered in his ear, and then they both looked at me. The next thing I knew, I was walking with Mr. McPherson to his office. On the way, he remarked: "I've seen you in the halls, I thought you were a nice boy." We got situated in his office. Mr. McPherson was seated at his desk. Above his desk, mounted high on the wall, was a large paddle (riddled with holes for reduced wind resistance and maximum velocity), the kind of paddle fraternities use to initiate pledges, the type that junior high school assistant principals use to . . . The following dialogue ensued: Mr. McPherson: Yesterday Mrs. Morrison wanted to show a movie in her 6th period English class. She couldn't do it because the lens was missing from the projector. Greg Jones: I didn't take it. Mr. McPherson: We know. But the girl who took the lens said she would not have known how to do it had she not seen you take the lens out of the projector yesterday, so we're holding you responsible. To say the least, I thought this result was a bit odd, but who was I to challenge it? Fortunately, the consequences of being held responsible apparently were nothing more than being told I was being held responsible (but who knows whether my tainted record surfaced when I had background checks when I applied for the Utah State Bar and for employment at the Utah County Sheriff's Department). Each time a president nominates a candidate for service on the Supreme Court, I have only one litmus test - - how would that person decide the case of Grant Junior High School v. Greg Jones?