As a former justice, I think there is a note which should be added to the editorial from Aug. 28 — a simple point from the view of the former justices for the hope of a resolution. The issue of funding demonstrates the nearly constitutional crisis in the current situation. The term “constitutional crisis” is a heavy one, implying the impossibility of a functioning system without resolution. The funding issue demonstrates that as long as the court is required to return to the Senate and request line item funding for its daily functions, it will never be independent and equal. 

The court must operate, and have the means of operating, irrespective of the Senate’s will. It is not the funding in itself that matters, but the control Senate retains over the sitting justices, the court’s ability to operate and the decisions made from the bench. Irrefutably, the third branch was riddled with problems; it will require a great deal of attention from the other branches to fix and maintain a respectable court.