Since 1916, the United States Supreme Court has begun its term on the first Monday in October – a tradition that even inspired a Broadway show and then later a movie by the same name.
“The First Monday in October” debuted at the Majestic Theater on October 3, 1978 – the first Tuesday of the month. It lasted just 79 performances. A 1981 film based on the play starring Walter Matthau followed the same storyline and enjoyed mixed reviews. The fictitious plot centers on the nomination and confirmation of the first female justice and her unlikely friendship with one of her liberal counterparts.
The movie was rushed to theaters after President Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female justice. But it would be more than a decade until a very loose version of the play and movie plot materialized in real life.
Court watchers will remember that Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg enjoyed a famous friendship. Despite their stark ideological differences, the conservative Justice Scalia and his wife, and the liberal Justice Ginsburg and her husband, were known to go to the opera and even vacation together.
The makeup of the current High Court is not known to possess any such surprising friendly alliances, but it does feature something that many conservatives watch closely: an aging Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and a slightly younger but graying Justice Samuel Alito, 74.
Confirmed in a highly contentious series of hearings back in 1991, Justice Clarence Thomas has been on the bench for 33 years. The longest serving justice by 14 years (Chief Justice John Roberts has been serving for 19 years), the Georgia native is the gold standard when it comes to constitutional jurisprudence.
Justice Samuel Alito is approaching 19 years on the High Court, the third-longest tenured member. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006 and has set himself apart by authoring bold and principled decisions solidly based on the United States Constitution.
Writing in Dobbs, the landmark decision that overturned Roe, Justice Alito declared:
The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.
Given the radical and progressive march of both lower court judges and politicians committed to either reimagining or ignoring altogether the Constitution, the Supreme Court currently serves as the last bastion of sanity and security for freedom-loving Americans.
It was Ronald Reagan who warned, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Some social conservatives have joked about placing justices Thomas and Alito in a bubble, protecting them from the ravages of a fallen world. Their facetiousness withstanding, our faith calls on us to pray for all our leaders.
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness,” urged the apostle Paul. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-4).
It would also be in our national best interest to pray, especially, for the health and strength of justices Thomas and Alito. Both men are under extreme pressure, regularly harassed by radicals and continuously maligned and lied about by critics. Aging is a challenge for everyone, but especially for those who are navigating it amid a public and highly demanding job.
Justices Thomas and Alito are among the greatest legal minds of our generation, brave and courageous men whose personal faith in Jesus prompts them to publicly and boldly resist the lies of a lost world, instead readily being “fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:10).
I pray they both live a good many years to come.
Images from Getty.
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