If, after 30 years on the Supreme Court, one of your grandchildren asked you what you had done to make the world a safer and kinder place, what would you hope to be able to answer?[1]
The above represents one of the questions that Mr. Devlin Barrett, and presumably at least one of the even Democratic women in the Senate who have solicited questions for Judge Roberts via the Internet, consider an example of a serious question.[1] Is it a judge or justice's job to "make the world a safer and kinder place"? In one sense yes, but, I suspect, not in the sense that the submitter intended. A judge or justice can, in fact, do much to make this a safer world. [S]He can promote justice, without which, the law-abiding are not safe from government, or from abuse by a majority. He can ensure that laws are applied fairly and equally, creating a climate in which all know that the law will be upheld. But he should not be deciding social issues, making this world "safer" for the mother who wants to kill her child in abortion, "kinder" for the person who wants to get ahead on the basis of race alone. These are issues for society at an interpersonal level and society at a legislative level to solve, not for nine unelected judges. The good judge is not one who looks back and says "I changed the world." He is one that looks back and says "I upheld my oath." This is a concept that I suspect would be foreign to many.
[1] Barrett, Devlin. "Web Users Ask Roberts: You're Sinking, Which Amendments Do You Toss?" The Associated Press via Law.com (online) 2005-09-1. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1125479114750&rss=newswire