While practicing law can be depressing, one thing that makes me happy is the legal arena is one of the last places where you have at least a shot of someone deciding in your favor even when they disagree with you as a policy matter.
If you enjoy the purity of SCOTUS, the district courts and federal appellate courts can often be even less policy driven than SCOTUS, whose limited jurisdiction requires them to hear the most controversial issues.
IMHO, SCOTUS is a reflection of the times and there was much less polarization 10-20 years ago before congress got better at picking justices who aligned with their views... nonetheless, I admire SCOTUS as a place where the BS of politicians would never fly and is a respectable Battlefield of Ideas.
While practicing law can be depressing, one thing that makes me happy is the legal arena is one of the last places where you have at least a shot of someone deciding in your favor even when they disagree with you as a policy matter.
If you enjoy the purity of SCOTUS, the district courts and federal appellate courts can often be even less policy driven than SCOTUS, whose limited jurisdiction requires them to hear the most controversial issues.
IMHO, SCOTUS is a reflection of the times and there was much less polarization 10-20 years ago before congress got better at picking justices who aligned with their views... nonetheless, I admire SCOTUS as a place where the BS of politicians would never fly and is a respectable Battlefield of Ideas.
Thank you, that is very insightful. Are the oral arguments available online as audio?
It's also a great point about the case selection being less contentious.