Schrodinger's Ginsburg

I wish the rest of Justice Ginsburg's life to be long, happy, and meaningful, and for her to choose how she wishes to live it.

And yet there is a political perspective on the issue. Perhaps keeping Republicans from transforming her seat on the Court from Blue to Red would be the meaning she would choose, were it possible.

If she in fact dies before December of 2020, I find it unlikely the Republicans who currently control the Senate would not vote to replace her with Donald Trump's nominee. They might even pledge not to do this until the November elections are over -- but then if Trump loses, to do this in a lame-duck session in December. If she in facts lives more than four years longer than Scalia did, the Republicans would be inconsistent in not deferring the decision until after the election and letting the next President decide, but it is hard to believe that in today's polarized climate this would stop them.

So here is my plan, if Ginsburg comes to feel she is dying. She should take a trip to Canada, and hide out in the home of some sympathetic individual -- perhaps a large estate that includes armed security. She should give instructions that if she dies, no one should reveal the fact that she has died until February, 2021. Trusted medical personnel should pay visits to the premises until that time. She could get the medical care she needs. If she dies, they could simply put her body into a deep freeze on the premises and continue to visit. I do not believe it is a crime to not promptly report the death of a person. If it is a crime, it is a minor one. The relevant law would be Canadian.

Hopefully even the Republicans would be very leery of voting to replace a Justice when there is no clear evidence that she is dead. (They would be very embarrassed if in fact she was not dead and made a public appearance at that time.) They could try to impeach her for failure to perform her duties, but the Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to block her conviction. If they did replace her on the speculation that she was dead, it might justify (in the minds of many) a Democratic congress and President (if and when elected) to take a dramatic step like passing legislation to increase the size of the court and filling the new seats with their nominees.

It might seem like a gruesome idea. I would never suggest it unless Justice Ginsburg herself enthusiastically agreed, but in the age of polarization, she might agree that severe consequences could call for severe measures to head them off.

There is a famous thought experiment in physics known as <Schrodinger's Cat>. A cat is placed in a sealed box with some device that might based on random processes either release a poison to kill the cat, or not, but undetectable outside the box. In line with the philosophy of modern physics, once the box is sealed the cat is in fact in an indeterminate state that is neither alive nor dead. From the perspective of the outside world, we could create Schrodinger's Ginsburg.