The Chief Packs It In!

The cub reporter’s managing editor, who was called “Chief” by his awe struck underlings, looked very unhappy as he stared at the copy that the fledgling journalist had submitted a few minutes before.

CHIEF:  Do you really expect anyone not on drugs or having a psychotic breakdown to believe this hogwash?

CR:  Chief:  Its all true. I’ve got it on tape. I’ve promised not to attribute it to anyone, but its verifiable.

CHIEF:  Who is really going to believe that Justices Kennedy, Souter and Stevens dislike Senator Obama so much that they joined with Breyer and Ginsburg to come up with a really nasty decision  [Boumediene vs. Bush, 553 U.S. ____ (2008) http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07slipopinion.html ]  that is every bit as outrageous as the most intrusive decisions of the Warren and Burger Courts to help Sen. McCain’s chances of defeating Sen. Obama in November?

CR:  It is a rather extreme decision, unsupported by the law or the text of the constitution, isn’t it?

CHIEF:  Yeah!  (Said grudgingly.)

CR:  Senator McCain has already jumped on the decision as a campaign issue, hasn’t he? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68bdeeb4-3987-11dd-90d7-0000779fd2ac.html

CHIEF:  Yeah!

CR: Can you come up with another rational explanation for this decision?

CHIEF:  No!

After the Chief had assigned the copy to be edited by an eagle eyed, obsessive compulsive senior editor before releasing the story for publication, the Chief looked out the window and wondered if it was time to finally pack it in and retire to the cabin that he had in Montana near a good trout stream.

The Chief recalled that when he had been a young reporter just a few decades ago, no one at the Supreme Court would say anything about anything more controversial than the weather and certainly never leak data about a case.  The Chief, although he would never dare admit these thoughts to anyone, had always respected that about the Supreme Court. They had a sense of loyalty to the institution over there, which set the Supreme Court apart from other Washington institutions. The Chief realized that sense of dignity and history was no longer to be found at the Supreme Court.

The Chief made the arm motions involved in fly casting as he thought to himself that back then, the Supreme Court also had read Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution and understood that the POTUS was the commander in chief of the US armed forces, leaving the Supremes no room to meddle in military matters.

The Chief put his feet up on his desk for a second and then straightened up and grabbed his telephone receiver, while punching in the number for the personnel department. The Chief realized then that Montana was calling him.  He knew that was where he was meant to spend the rest of his days.