Editing 1607: Supreme Court

{{comic
| number    = 1607
| date      = November 23, 2015
| title     = Supreme Court
| image     = supreme_court.png
| titletext = Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy called the man's arguments that he could be either Alito or Ginsburg "surprisingly compelling, but ultimately unconvincing."
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Supreme Court of the United States}} (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the United States. Its decisions, as expressed in the judicial opinions of its justices, are often in the news as in this comic. However, the Supreme Court has only nine members. Thus, a ruling that passed 9-1 (for a total of 10 votes) would indicate that a man claiming to be an additional justice has somehow infiltrated the Court. The other nine justices are aware of the non-justice, and make it clear that this tenth justice does not belong. It is unclear if the justices released a formal decision on the subject or if the news is merely reporting the judges' statements as if they were decisions by citing a 9-1 decision (decisions of the SCOTUS are made on the basis of the opinion of the majority of the justices).

The identity of the "tenth justice" is not revealed in the comic or apparently to the actual justices, and neither is the reason that the interloper's "vote" was counted. Presumably, the nine actual justices voted that the tenth didn't belong while the interloper himself voted the other way.

This comic may be motivated by a 2012 survey, commonly cited since, that [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/two-thirds-of-americans-cant-name-any-us-supreme-court-justices-says-new-findlawcom-survey-166730886.html?utm_expid=43414375-18&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D3%26ved%3D0CG4QFjAC%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.prnewswire.com%252Fnews-releases%252Ftwo-thirds-of-americans-cant-name-any-us-supreme-court-justices-says-new-findlawcom-survey-166730886.html%26ei%3D0FIyUK_yMIT66wGY3YDYDg%26usg%3DAFQjCNFKL_iBiZH9xdpl5Wz5kBrErYgssw two thirds of Americans cannot name a Supreme Court Justice], and general ignorance of Americans overall of their own political landscape, by implying that even Justices are not confident in the identity of other members.

The title text refers to {{w|Justice Kennedy}}'s reputation for being a moderate who is usually the swing vote in 5-4 decisions, which means that his vote can decide the outcome of the case which is otherwise split along the political leanings of the other justices. The joke in the title text is that he is weighing the arguments of both sides even though the non-justice is clearly not a justice and would not be allowed to make an argument if he were. The fictional Kennedy humors the impostor's arguments by pretending to give them serious contemplation, finding that they do have some compelling philosophical merit, though not nearly enough to give the impostor any convincing reason for sitting on the Supreme Court.

There is a second joke in the title text, that the man is claiming to be two of the current justices, who would actually have been in the room at the same time as the impostor was claiming to be them. To add further absurdity to this, one of those justices the man claimed to be was {{w|Justice Ginsburg}}, who was a woman.

That said, it is possible that this could refer to a point in time in the past. Under the [http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/landmark_08.html Tenth Circuit Act of 1863] the U.S. Supreme Court was expanded to 10 justices; {{w|Stephen Johnson Field}} was named to the 10th seat. Congress abolished the seat via attrition through the [http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/landmark_09.html Judicial Circuits Act of 1866]. Field remained in office until 1897.

==Transcript==
:[A blonde woman news anchor with long hair is sitting at her desk with a small image of scales shown to the left of her.]
:Newsanchor: Breaking news: The Supreme Court has ruled 9-1 that they don't know who this guy is or how he got in here, but he's definitely ''not'' a justice.

{{comic discussion}}