The Associate Press reports that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new “class photo” contains a “number of firsts.”
The justices of the Supreme Court have just begun their new term, which commenced on the first Monday of October. As has become the tradition whenever a new member joins the court, the nine justices took a group photograph together.
As usual, the photograph was taken with the justices in front of a red curtain with the chief justice, John Roberts, seated directly in the center.
Five of the justices are seated, with four standing behind them. The seated justices, from left to right, are Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Elana Kagan. Then, the standing justices, from left to right, are Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
AP’s “firsts”
The Associated Press, in its report, identifies a number of “firsts” regarding the photograph.
As would be expected from a leftist outlet such as the Associated Press, these “firsts” mainly revolve around something that shouldn’t matter, namely, the color of one’s skin.
The Associated Press, for example, boasts that the photograph is “the first time white men don’t hold a majority on the court and the first time four women have served together.”
The outlet adds, “it’s also the first time the court has had two Black justices.”
On to more important issues
For most Americans, the skin color of the justices will be far less important than how the justices rule in important cases.
The Associated Press did not give any attention to the court’s decidedly-conservative makeup: 5-4 or 6-3, depending on where one puts Roberts. To be clear, Robert was nominated by a Republican president, but he has a tendency to side with the court’s liberal constituency at times on hot-button issues.
The justices are set to hear several key cases this term, including cases on issues such as election laws, race, and LGBTQ rights.
With the conservative majority, one would expect decisions to be much more in line with the Constitution than they have been in previous decades. We already received a glimpse of this last term with the overruling of Roe v. Wade and the upholding of the Second Amendment.