I didn't know that the court specifically had to deem things either constitutional or unconstitutional. In their rulings, they must base their decision on their interpretations of the constitution.
The Fourteenth Amendment has been referred to as the "second Bill of Rights" due to its power to defend people against excessive state power as the Bill of Rights defends against excess federal power.
This is less something I learned and more something I never really thought about, but the way that the Supreme Court has to interpret laws and rulings to include marginalized groups that weren't intended to matter to the system such as women and people of color.
Before they begin a meeting or conference, every justice shakes every other justice's hand. That is just a good rule, helps keeps things civil.
I had no idea that the court hearings were public.
What is most important about the Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justices cannot opt to change or fix something in their day to day lives. They have to wait for the country to decide it is a large enough issue so much so that only the Supreme Court can tackle it. Therefore, any ruling made wasn't because they wanted to change or fix it themselves, but rather because the American society wanted it changed or fixed and took it to them.
What was most surprising?
I find it so fascinating that it (the Supreme Court) isn't based on anything more than, as Justice Antonin Scalia put it, "interpretive philosophy". Of course, they think about contemporary standings, their own political beliefs, and legal proceedings, but truly what most of their rulings come down to is how they read the original constitution.
How did it change how I see the Supreme Court?
It humanized them for me. I mean I see every once in a while that these esoteric beings that have been doing this for years made a decision from these Olympian positions and think "how could they have any idea what is good for the American Populus when they are so disconnected from the everyday reality of American life". This reminded me that they are also still Americans who are affected by these decisions and have to live their everyday lives with the decisions they make.
All of the "Eight Values of Free Expression" were clearly created to work in tandem with one another; one cannot work without having the others as foundation. Therefore I felt it necessary to preface this post by saying this is not an attempt to say any one value is more important than the other, it is simply just the one I am most glad we have (which to me seems a little redundant because we couldn't have it without the support of the others, but I digress).
Individual Self-Fulfillment
I personally resonate with this simply due to the freedom of expression. I am an expressive person and enjoy art which itself is an expression (art of course referring to any creative work such as writing, film, music, and visual art itself). While this class is largely based on law and understanding politics as they relate to it, I wanted to make this blog a little more personal. On one hand I just want to gush about important art to me, but on the other it is a great example of why this value specifically means so much. Without it, I couldn't have come to understand myself in the way that I have, and I couldn't share the results here with you. So, yes, it is self-indulgent, but it is also rehearsing my right to individual self-fulfillment. So here's the media that made me:
Stand by Me (Adapted from "The Body" by Stephen King)
Crucial to my development as a writer and a child, I saw Stand by Me when I was maybe eight to ten. If anyone were to cry bad parenting at my parent's decision to let me watch this that young, then clearly they never played on a playground. It helped me understand so much about myself growing up and how change works that I honestly am not sure if I'd be the same person without having seen it so young (maybe a little melodramatic, but there is sincerity there I promise). It worked as my first introduction to Stephen King who, as I assume with many writers, is a massive inspiration in my writing. It let me know that friends change and leave, and that's okay. It told me that not even kids are invincible. And it showed me that maybe writing isn't as lame as I made it out to be.
I know this isn't a class on film or reviewing movies, but that was vital to my individual self-fulfillment. A large part of the value is "finding kindred spirits" and that is exactly what that movie allowed me to do. The kindred spirits were Gordie LeChance and Chris Chambers, and the all the people involved in bringing them to life. Another kindred spirit was Stephen King, who in both through his writing and his life taught me that maybe I wasn't so crazy for having big dreams and an even bigger imagination.
These guys got me through high school. They did so by freely expressing themselves through music, music which then got me through some pretty rough years. I could touch on the kindred spirits thing again, but I don't have to. The point was made. Instead, Hippo Campus helped with my "human dignity" and progression into myself as an individual.
As it is in high school, I was trying to figure myself out. Part of that journey was music, and Hippo Campus connected with me in a way no band ever did (I would say "has" but there's a few now that hit pretty hard depending on the mood). Lyrically and instrumentally they resonated with me, giving me an outlet for any emotion I didn't know how to articulate. In high school, that was huge. It can feel so humiliating to lose your voice trying to find the words to tell people how you feel. Sharing a song with them gave me that part of my dignity back.
Eventually of course I eventually figured out how to communicate like a well-adjusted human being, but for a while they really helped me find my voice. Without free expression and self-fulfillment (which they also utilized by writing songs to help discover who they were), I (nor they) would have ever had that. Plus, a couple of their lyrics can come across politically charged (, so it really helped them out here. There's a link to their Spotify on their name. Check them out if you get a chance.
The Magicians (Books and Series)
Thankfully this wasn't made with the Alien and Sedation Act in place, because later seasons have a pretty biting commentary on the world. As with the rest of them, this series was pretty pivotal for becoming who I am now. The author claimed he used them to get over some of his own stuff (so again with the "they also used it for their own personal fulfillment" schtick) and I did too. The books (and show) are dark and often painful, but still somehow hopeful and full of life.
This series was one of a couple that made me think really existentially and consequently made me think about all the choice and power I (and everyone else) have in life. It helped me realize how autonomous I am, and therefore relinquished quite a bit of agency on me.
Epilogue
The point is all of these works of expression provided me exactly what Individual Self-Fulfillment was designed to provide. They gave me people to relate to and ways to grow and change as a person, they gave the people who made them ways to express themselves and other people ways to do so as well, and by doing all that they allowed me (and countless others) to come into my own to be a productive and autonomous member of society.
I know this was a little out of the box in terms of assignment requirements, but I figured I threw in enough buzzwords to secure me something. Regardless, that's the reason I resonate with Value Number Four of the Eight Values of Free Expression: Individual Self-Fulfillment.
