Not an Aristocracy at all...

SCOTUSblog is doing a wonderful job as all the papers from late Supreme Court Justive Blackmun come out. Some of them are amusing and insightful, but I find them somewhat scary. The amount of politicking that went into some decisions, and even in how to "handle" some justices, does not seem to hold with the idea of this being a purely interpretative body that coldy reads the law as it stands. On one hand, they announce the final verdict on any matter they choose, on the other they relegate one of their own to irrelevancy without bothering to try to appoint anyone new.

Of course this is therefore more interesting and fun for polisci professional students to wank on, but hardly what you want in an all powerful group four steps removed from any democratic accountability.