Thinking Citizen Blog — A Visual Alarm Bell — The Fence Around the Supreme Court
Thinking Citizen Blog — Saturday is Justice, Freedom, Law, and Values Day
Today’s Topic: A Visual Alarm Bell — The Fence Around the Supreme Court
For the first time in over 200 years, a fence has been erected around the Supreme Court to protect the justices from physical harm. The Senate has “voted unanimously to extend police protection to the justices’ immediate family” as “protestors filled the streets outside the homes of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanagh and Samuel Alito.” The prophecy made by Senator Chuck Schumer in 2020 seems to be coming true: “You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” To me, the image of the 8-foot tall fence in front of the Supreme Court building is chilling. Today, a few excerpts from related articles. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
DOES THIS REFLECT A BROAD SOCIETAL TREND? THE CASE OF WILL SMITH AND DAVE CHAPELLE (see second link)
1. “No recent event more galvanized a country numbed by behavioral excess than Will Smith, an until-then respected actor, strolling out of his seat at the Academy Awards to slap down Chris Rock.”
2. “Not long after, no surprise, comedian Dave Chapelle was attacked onstage in Los Angeles by an audience member.”
3. “Smash-and-grab robberies during store hours — once nonexistent — are commonplace.”
NB: “A sign painted last weekend on the wall of a pro-life organization in Madison, Wisconsin said, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”
THE JANUARY 6TH ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL AND THE OPINION POLL THAT FOLLOWED

1. “A year after a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol in the worst attack on the home of Congress since it was burned by British forces in 1814, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds that about 1 in 3 Americans say they believe violence against the government can at times be justified.”
2. “The percentage of adults who say violence is justified is up, from 23 percent in 2015 and 16 percent in 2010 in polls by CBS News and the New York Times.”
3. “The findings represent the largest share to feel that way since the question has been asked in various polls in more than two decades. They offer a window into the country’s psyche at a tumultuous period in American history, marked by last year’s insurrection, the rise of Trump’s election claims as an energizing force on the right, deepening fissures over the government’s role in combating the pandemic, and mounting racial justice protests sparked by police killings of Black Americans.”
OPINION POLL BREAKDOWN — Republicans versus Democrats and Independents; by age, sex, race, education (but this data could be quite misleading — the methodology has changed)

1. “While a 2015 survey found no significant partisan divide when it comes to the question of justified violence against the government, the new poll identified a sharper rise on the right — with 40 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of independents saying it can be acceptable. The view was held by 23 percent of Democrats, the survey finds.”
2. “Acceptance of violence against the government was higher among men, younger adults and those with college degrees. There was also a racial gap, with 40 percent of White Americans saying such violence can be justified, compared with 18 percent of Black Americans.”
3. “People’s reasoning for what they considered acceptable violence against the government varied, from. what they considered to be overreaching coronavirus restrictions, to the disenfranchisement of minority. voters, to the oppression of Americans. Responses to an open-ended question on the survey abouthypothetical justifications included repeated mentions of “autocracy,” “tyranny,” “corruption” and a loss of freedoms.”
NB: “The growth in the share of Americans willing to accept violence against the government identified. by The Post-UMD poll may be partly due to methodology. Previous surveys were conducted by phone, while the new poll was largely conducted online, and studies have found respondents are more willing to voice socially undesirable opinions in self-administered surveys than when asked by an interviewer.”
FOOTNOTE — The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner May 22, 1856 (from the US Senate website) — a memory elicited by reflection on the ominous trends described above
1. “On May 22, 1856, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” became a combat zone. In one of the most dramatic and deeply ominous moments in the Senate’s entire history, a member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate Chamber and savagely beat a Senator into unconsciousness.”
2. “The inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state. In his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal culprits in this crime — Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. He characterized Douglas to his face as a “noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American senator.” Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate treatment. Mocking the South Carolina senator’s stance as a man of chivalry, the Massachusetts senator charged him with taking “a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight — I mean,”added Sumner, “the harlot, Slavery.”
3. “Representative Preston Brooks was Butler’s South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman, he might have challenged him to a duel. Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly dogs. Shortly after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his “Crime Against Kansas” speech. Moving quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner’s head. As Brooks struck again and again, Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to protect himself. After a very long minute, it ended. Bleeding profusely, Sumner was carried away. Brooks walked calmly out of the chamber without being detained by the stunned onlookers. Overnight, both men became heroes in their respective regions.”
NB: “Surviving a House censure resolution, Brooks resigned, was immediately reelected, and soon thereafter died at age 37. Sumner recovered slowly and returned to the Senate, where he remained for another 18 years. The nation, suffering from the breakdown of reasoned discourse that this event
symbolized, tumbled onward toward the catastrophe of civil war.”
Senate passes bill to give police protection to families of Supreme Court justices
Opinion | Abortion Puts the Supreme Court Behind an 8-Foot Fence
U.S. Senate: The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner
Caning of Charles Sumner — Wikipedia
For the last four years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
Two special attachments below:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven
Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to justice, freedom, the law or basic values. Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to justice, freedom, the law, or basic values. Or just some random justice-related fact that blew you away.
This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart.