THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2) (4 page)

UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT

WASHINGTON,
DC

        
 
In 2005 a large piece of marble weighing approximately
172 pounds fell four stories from the west façade of the Supreme Court
building. The stone had been part of the parapet above the word
"under" in the phrase "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW" engraved on
the front of the building facing the U.S. Capitol. (CNN, 11/28/05)

           
Today’s joint news
conference by Justices Scanlon and Thomson similarly sent shock waves through
the Supreme Court building, official Washington and eventually the world. The two
robed Justices were seated in the Court’s august Courtroom, but not behind the
bench they normally occupied. A table used by Counsel appearing before the
Court was moved to the center of the room. Behind the table were two chairs,
leaving sufficient room in front of the table for the assembled media, who had
been told to expect a major announcement. Indeed it was.

        
Justice
Scanlon cleared his throat, indicating he was about to begin. The CBS reporter
who covered the high Court leaned over to her counterpart with CNN and
whispered, “What the heck is this, anyway? They’re not up behind their bench.
There’s no case opinion that’s been handed down, I just checked the docket. No
news release. Where are the other Justices? In my thirteen years here I’ve never
seen anything like this.”

        
Scanning
the packed chamber, Justice Scanlon swallowed hard then said, “Members of the
media, on behalf of Justice Thomson and myself, we want to thank you for coming
today to cover our joint statement. We don’t have a written news release as we
preferred to hold this matter close to our vests, so to speak, without any
pre-leaks…..We’ve asked you to join us today for two reasons. First, we want to
add our condolences and expressions of sympathy to the family of Justice
Fineberg. She was a fine lady and a diligent Justice who will be sorely
missed.”

        
The
CNN reporter leaned back to his CBS friend, quietly saying,
“What?
The two most conservative
Justices brought us in here just to tell us how much they mourn the death of
the Court’s most liberal Justice? Sure they do….they miss her like….”

        
“We
know that the re-elected President of the United States will soon name Justice
Fineberg’s replacement. We have
no
illusions as to the political beliefs and predispositions of the new Justice,
who will undoubtedly continue Justice Fineberg’s ideological approach to the
cases that come before this Court.”

        
CNN
said to ABC, “OK,
finally
some news.
The Justices usually restrict their criticisms of other Justices to written
dissents in case opinions, but not in public statements.
What are they up to
?”

        
“We
likewise are under
no delusion
that
in this President’s second term he will, in addition to naming Justice
Fineberg’s replacement, nominate two, possibly three, or maybe even four new
Justices, simply as a function of the ages of those of us now serving. The two
youngest Justices on this Court are two of the Court’s most liberal members. It
is no stretch to conclude that this Court will be 7-2, some would say even 8-1,
liberal versus conservative in the very near future. We see that as an ominous
development, not just because we tend to be in the conservative wing of the
Court, but because for many decades this Court has generally been
balanced
between liberal and
conservative. Now, however, and soon, the Court will no longer enjoy such a
balance, as the Court will be re-constructed to lean heavily towards the
liberal political philosophy of the occupant of the White House.”

        
CBS
whispered to CNN, “This is
unbelievable
.
Members of the Court
never
talk like
this….at least in public. Something’s up. They’re going to
do
more
than just
criticize their fellow Justices.”

        
CNN
replied, “Yeah, but
do what
?”

        
Questioning
media didn’t have to wait long to find out what Justices Scanlon and Thomson
had in mind. Justice Scanlon was known for being much more vocal than Justice
Thomson, who rarely spoke from the bench during oral argument of counsel.
Justice Scanlon continued his statement, “All of this to say that we, Justice
Thomson and I, have arrived at a decision….
We
are each….tendering….our respective….resignations as Associate Justices of
the Supreme Court….effective immediately
…
.that
is,
today
.”

        
Bedlam
quickly ensued in the chambers of the nation’s highest Court, as several of the
gathered media ran from the room to make cell calls. Those remaining competed
to get the Justices’ attention for their shouted questions. The clamor was so
rancorous that the Justices couldn’t make out a single intelligible question.

        
Justice
Thomson, with his deep, sonorous voice boomed into the melee finally managing
to restore some semblance of order, “Quiet….
Quiet
….You’re
all going to
have
to quiet down, so
Justice Scanlon can finish our statement. Then….and
only
then….we’ll try and answer your questions. Alright? Justice
Scanlon, please proceed.”

        
 
“Justice Thomson and I are fully aware that
many Americans will
not
understand
why we would resign from the Court at this time. We’ll briefly summarize the
steps that led us to make this decision. First, the Court is about to change, due
to age and the other issues I just mentioned. It’s not a question of
whether
the Court is about to become
off-balanced, in our view, to the liberal side, but only
when
that will occur. The American people made that decision with
their recent re-election of the President.

        
“Secondly,
we hasten to note the fact that this Court
did
not see fit
to overrule the law adopted by the legislative branch creating
the most massive federal government interference with the private sector ever
devised by the mind of man. We speak of the government takeover of the medical
industry, fully one-sixth of the nation’s economy. This Court
ignored
the obvious Constitutional
violations in the barely-adopted bill, finding that the new law amounted to a
tax, though that word was nowhere used in the bill, and never by the bill’s
sponsors, including the White House. Our Chief Justice, whom we hold in high
regard, was
the deciding vote
in
upholding this sweeping law. What is the relevance to our decision to step down
from the Court? Simply this, if this Court, while generally balanced
ideologically, would not stop the headlong march to socialize the American free
enterprise system, then with more liberal Justices why would we not expect this
Court to put its stamp of judicial approval on
virtually anything
that this Administration enacts into law, either
in Congress or by executive fiat?

        
“Some
will object to our resignation, though it’s obviously our personal right to
decide how long we will serve, how long we will continue to fight. Staying on
and continuing to fight the battle to maintain what’s left of the American
system of checks and balances has only an
extremely
limited appeal
, for the reasons we’ve just stated. Further, for those who
would urge us to stay on and fight the culture war, we would conclude that
the culture war is over
. The recent
election confirmed the end of that war, and by this we don’t mean only the
re-election of the nation’s historically most politically extreme President.
American voters also, by the hundreds of thousands, cast their votes for same
sex marriage, as I warned several years ago would occur, voted for the use of
previously illegal drugs and in one of the nation’s largest states refused to
bar the use of public funds for abortions.
It’s
over
, our fellow Americans. Forty years of
aborted Americans
, over
fifty-seven
million
of them, is stark proof that the nation will not and never will
change this cruel and unusual punishment of the unborn. Again,
the American culture war has been lost
,
and a majority of Americans have made the decision as to the
winning side
.”

        
The
assembled media, most of whom were themselves liberal and who favored abortion,
same sex marriage and the legalization of drugs, were clearly not sympathetic to
the words they were hearing. However, it was just as obvious from the spreading
smiles across the mass of reporters that they were slowly realizing the
enormity of what was just said. Their side had, in fact,
won
. Finally, the white flag of surrender had been waved by none
other than two of the nation’s leading right wing jurists.
What a day, what a story to report
, many concluded.

        
The
next day the New York Times published an editorial urging the President to
nominate self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender lawyers to
all three vacancies on the Court, as a
“sure
sign that this White House will do whatever it takes to make up for years of
bigoted discrimination against our LGBT brothers and sisters.”
The Majority
Leader of the U. S. Senate responded to the editorial suggestion by promising
to
“swiftly confirm
whomever
the President deems fit to
serve on the Supreme Court,
particularly
if the three nominees are
all LGBT
.
It’s time.”

Dallas,
Texas

        
Jack Madison’s church followed the southern tradition of a
Wednesday night meal and church service. A few years back Jack had suggested
that the Wednesday night service be divided between the men and women, with a
Bible study course for each, to encourage attendance. His suggestion worked as
double the number of Wednesday night attendees showed up for food and
scripture. Jack liked to teach the men, when he was in town, and Debbie
normally led the women’s study. Tonight’s meal was chicken fried steak, mashed
potatoes, green beans, and brownie alamode, routinely the most popular meal.

        
After dinner, Jack went to the men’s half of the sanctuary
that was walled off with movable partitions. As he picked up his Bible and his
notes he realized that there was the distinct possibility that this men’s Bible
study could be his last for some time, particularly if the courts treat him the
same way the feds abused his dad, keeping him in prison, without the benefit of
habeas corpus or bail. He planned to teach tonight on facing the Goliaths of
life, as it fit well into their study of the life of David. He had written at
the end of his notes that he would tell the men that he and Chuck Webster, his
lawyer, would be appearing in federal court the next morning and ask for their
prayers. He never got a chance to do so.

        
As Jack approached the small lectern used for the men’s
study he looked up with surprise to see the back doors of the room fly open.
Several persons wearing vests with large yellow letters proclaiming
Federal Marshal
burst into the room,
walking quickly, almost at a trot, to get to the front of the room, where Jack
stood. None of what Jack was seeing made any sense to him, in light of what
he’d been told Monday morning by visiting federal agents. What were these
people doing in his church? More than that, why were they armed? Why show their
weapons in this peaceful setting?

        
Before Jack could say or do anything he was surrounded by
the Marshals, two of whom grabbed his arms, turning them behind his back, then
they flexi-cuffed him. The Marshal who appeared to be in charge began to
re-read Jack his Miranda rights, which also happened on Monday morning. Jack
swallowed, gained his voice and said, “
Wait
,
I’ve already been Mirandized….and….we had an understanding that I would show up
tomorrow morning….at the federal court house.
What’s
this all about? Can’t the government
keep its word
?” Several of the men, the ones seated closest to the
front of the room, stood and walked towards their Pastor, with obvious concern
on their faces for his well-being.

        
The Marshals, upon seeing the men approaching, stepped in
front of Jack, holding up their hands and forcefully saying,
“Stop
….right there….
stop
….this is
none
of
your business.”

        
The largest man in the room, a former NFL player who had
been saved in Jack’s church, didn’t heed the Marshal’s warnings, pushing
himself up against the lead Marshal who had Mirandized his pastor. He looked
down on the Marshal and said, “I want to know what you think
you’re doing
in
our
church to
our
pastor?”

        
The outsized Marshal, intimidated by the bulk of the man
pressing on his officially vested chest, tried to level the field by pulling a
revolver from his hip holster and sticking it up in the former football
player’s face, saying, “
Get back
….get
back
now
….or I WILL have to shoot
you….you are interfering with
official
U.S. Marshal government business.”

        
Jack quickly shouted to his defender, “
Mike, stand back,
I’m fine….
don’t
get yourself
shot
….this will all work
out….please sit down, before you get yourself in trouble….
please
.”

        
Mike hesitated, realized that he was in over his head,
stepped back and started to return to his seat. As he did, the lead Marshal
motioned to two of his men to cuff him also. The Marshal decided he wasn’t
about to be intimidated and that he would swear out a warrant against Jack’s
unrequested defender for interfering with a lawful arrest. The Marshals then
quickly walked both out of the sanctuary, through the front entry vestibule and
out into the main parking lot, where they were met by five television crews,
newspaper photographers and radio reporters. Jack Madison’s perp walk had
begun.