At last we have come to the end of the four-day public hearings of the chief justice nominee Judge John Roberts before the US Senate Judiciary Committee. In the coming few days both Democrats and Republicans will cast their vote to decide, although the talk in the press is that this is largely a done deal and Judge Roberts will be confirmed. Every day, between September 12-16, I watched these proceedings and broadcast live. Most times I came away elevated. I felt lucky being a witness to the unfolding of the ideal of democracy in action. After all, any manifestation of democracy seems like a glorious “experiment with the truth.”Born and raised in India, I couldn’t escape a feeling of longing: how wonderful it would be if a similar event were to happen in India and be broadcast on TV networks all over the country! When Judge Roberts — at 50 almost too young to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court of United States — took the oath, I felt as if I could literally see democracy as such moving forward, set in motion by the very words of the oath. At that moment I forgot the word “democracy” but felt only a much more immediate emotion, of seeing people gathered for the sole purpose of deliberating with nothing more than words, ideas, and the clear articulation of their nation’s ideals.Imagine! Men and women being measured solely by the intangibles, those deeply human beliefs we all hold about our fellow citizens. Of course a democratic government is nothing new to those living in India. Nevertheless, we often hear people complain that all this talk of democracy and democratic principles means nothing, and just look how pathetic the real conditions of an average Indian citizen are. I think they have a point. We miss that experience of seeing democracy in action, which is a vastly superior experience to undergo, than to simply comprehend democracy in principle.How does one bring about this experience of democracy? It starts with an informed and engaged citizen, not an argumentative citizen. How then as a citizen does one inform oneself? It helps, for example, if the nation’s eminent and respected legal minds make available their thoughts and opinions to the citizenry. How do we do this in practice?Here is a proposal. What if we pull together the writings of all the supreme court and higher court justices into a single location on the internet and make them freely available to the public? What would happen? Citizens would then read them, talk about them, put them on their blogs, a flurry of informed opinions would then ensue, and that would lead to an engaged citizen. How exactly would this come about?Clarity in legal expression encourages citizen participation. During the hearings Judge Roberts cited his favourite, Justice Jackson: “You shouldn’t have to be a lawyer to understand what Supreme Court opinions mean. One of the reasons I’ve given previously for admiring Justice Jackson is he was one of the best writers the court has ever had.They’re not written in jargon or legalese.”Our Constitution declares that “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform” is a fundamental duty. So it behoves our legal minds to open their vaults of reasoning to the citizen and to the “glare of publicity” to propel forward the “spirit of inquiry and reform.”The writer is a high technology professional, based in California
