Stevens and Elephants

Justice Stevens was one of the finest members of the Supreme Court ever because he was likely the last to approach every case with an open mind. He came to the bench from a privileged background and an antitrust practice with a major law firm. Of course, his family had suffered during the Depression when their hotel business failed and his grandfather and uncle went to early deaths and his father was imprisoned for fraud. That his father was later exonerated and freed did not erase the experience from the teenage son's consciousness.

Gerald Ford, who had been a partisan minority leader in the House and will be remembered for the disgraceful Nixon pardon, which at least cost him election to the Presidency, did act presidentially with regard to this Supreme Court appointment. Then-Judge (7th Circuit) Stevens's name was advanced by Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois, the kind of moderate Republican with a strong business background who no longer exists, and cleared by Ford's finest appointment, the distinguished former Dean of the University of Chicago law school and President of that university, Attorney-General Edward Levi. He was confirmed, 98-0, in those calmer times.

Stevens did strike observers when he was appointed as likely to follow a center-right trajectory on the court. Instead, his bow ties signaled someone who was independent if not maverick. He seemed to take each case as it came, without a prefixed position. This country has always been more tolerant of far-right positions than far-left ones: Stevens was in reality a moderate; he has been described as a liberal because our media and politicians have moved the center so far to the right. His mentor, Wiley Rutledge, for whom he clerked, was a liberal. So was William O. Douglas. We haven't had any on the court since then.

But some justices have demonstrated a willingness to change their world views. Earl Warren had been a solid conservative when Attorney-General and Governor of California. Now, it is hard to believe he was the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1948. He evolved or, more probably, was able to act on his long-held personal outlook when he joined the court. So did Stevens. He even did what hardly any of them have ever done, before or since: he acknowledged that some of his earlier decisions had been wrong.

I see his dissents in Bush v. Gore and in the Heller 2nd Amendment case as his shining moments. If you read his dissent in Heller, it destroys the spurious historical justifications Scalia managed to convince four ignorant colleagues to accept. The Bush v. Gore decision was fraudulent the moment it appeared and will haunt us by its naked power grab in inflicting someone who had not clearly won the election on us as President. Until now, he was the worst to hold that office.

A story in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine convinced me to change, as it happens. It described in fascinating detail how keeping elephants in captivity, much less having them perform, is entirely alien to their nature and, it has now become clear, their very continued existence. This is not a conclusion that I arrived at easily. I always enjoyed the circus and I've found animal rights a dubious legal concept.

Having put the circus out of business--yes, some small ones persist but Ringling Brothers' fall truly sounded the death knell for this ancient survivor in the show-business world--the animal rights movement turned its attack machine on the zoos. This article showed clearly that the zoos have ignored doing the right thing, which would be to support and lead a movement to enable elephants to endure in their natural habitat. Instead, they have connived to evade export bans to increase their entertainment values by exhibiting elephants. Even if I'm still skeptical of animal rights as a legal theory, I do hate to see animals mistreated. The elephant story shows that the zoos have behaved abysmally and deserve condemnation.

Baseball, Art & Rock'N'Roll

Recently spent several days in Cleveland more or less at large. Had been there before--ages ago for a wedding and a few years previously when I visited the then-new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This time it was a pleasant outing to Progressive (née Jacobs) Field to see the Tribe host the Reds--an intrastate battle but in a non-existent rivalry, because these ancient franchises hardly ever played each other before the relatively recent inter-league era, as they were always in different leagues.

It was a fine afternoon for baseball, not too hot, sun shining. Lots of memories revived by various monuments both in a "legacy park" and around the stadium to famous Indians. Unlike at my home park, hot dog vendors circulate through the stands and the house mustard is excellent, sharp and tangy. Indians fell to Reds, in last place in their division. Indians are in 2d, 10 games out, and lost twice in a row last week to Orioles, 13-0 each time.

A good part of re-visiting the Rock'n'Roll museum is that they keep changing the exhibits, and not just for each year's new entrants, although they get plenty of attention. A half-hour video showed how just about every significant performer appeared at least once on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, which I recall watching in the 50s in black-and-white at my cousins' in Philly. Dick Clark was a graduate of my hometown high school and seeing this reminded me of the immense charm he exuded as well as his programming skill. 

Enjoyed a filling dinner at Sokolowki's restaurant, a venerable Polish establishment where we were invited to join a large cohort. Lots of sports pix on the walls, and I did spot Jim Brown's and Bob Feller's as well as--less predictably--Ted Williams, but missed seeing Hank Majeski, who may well have been there, as he should have been.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is major league all the way. An amazingly eclectic collection--from ancient Greek and Egyptian to excellent paintings from just about every era. Not only was the museum clearly a product of old money, much like the St. Louis Art Museum, but the curators through the years showed a lot of perspicacity in their selecting the art. Good representation of American art, too, from colonial to American impressionists to abstract and current. 

We passed up a boat ride on Lake Erie because a storm was coming and those who sailed returned to a torrent. I don't think I've ever gone on one of these excursions--usually, as this one was, organized by conventions--where the comestibles offered were any good. We ducked out after negotiating the dinner line, which led us to conclude that escape was the best route.