I have a problem with the Supreme Court of the USA. This is unlikely to bother the justices there, but I’m going to complain anyway.
The issue this time is lifting the protections that 300000 Venezuelans had against deportation. The Supreme Court has decided that they shouldn’t receive the protection of the law as a group, but rather fight each case on an individual basis. This is the same solution that they found with the purge of trans soldiers from the military.
Laws control and limit human behaviour. They allow society to function by discouraging a range of destructive impulses. At the same time, they protect us and promote acceptable behaviour. Most of all, the law should be viewed as a system created by humans in order to serve humans.
There is a breed of judge which regards the law as a clever logic puzzle. It is an enclosed, (fairly) consistent system, which can produce very unexpected results, if you set your mind to it.
This approach enslaves humans to the law. So what if hundreds of thousands of people have their lives ruined? So what if it leaves them at the mercy of an over-powerful and vengeful executive? It fits in with their interpretation of the law, fine.
Germany doesn’t get everything right, but emphasising human dignity in the first line of the constitution sets a good example. It tells judges exactly where their priorities lie. The US judges are failing at their job.
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