I always envisioned SCOTUS as the parent or grandparent that you REALLY did not want to go to to resolve disputes, because you know everyone was getting their ears boxed and a slap, but sometimes things got so off the rails you needed a reset and all gave in and asked for them to intervene.
And most of the time they were like "Work your shit out, you embarrassing children" but every so often they did intervene and both sets of children lost some, because that's the consequence for not handling your shit.
(As an adult I realized... that has not functionally been it.)
