Why John Roberts' goal is not what you think
Roberts is a smart Republican operator.
He realizes that now and for the next few decades, the large large majority of unqualified partisans on the courts will be Republican ideologues.
Roberts wants to head off all political criticism of judges because criticism of politicizing the courts would damage Republicans.
- Gorsuch: Fed Soc, in bed with Anschutz
- Thomas: wife is an insane conservative fascist
- Alito: Fed Soc, climate change denier, invited /Janus/
- Kavanaugh: Fed Soc, insane rant re “leftists”
- Roberts: voter suppression activist in Reagan White House, worked for Rehnquist, voter suppression activist himself in AZ in 1970s
Here’s the GOP strategy that Roberts is executing:
Pretend Republican judges are just calling “balls and strikes” while the Republican Trump judges eviscerate rule of law, help billionaires, and harm average people.
Democrats will want to call out the Republican ideologue judges.
And Roberts is trying to head that off.
Kavanaugh and the five Fed Soc judges are going to vote to repeal Roe, to hurt unions, to rule enviornmental regulations unconstitutional, and in general produce twisted-logic pro-billionaire decisions.
And we're going to want to say
And the rightwing media will say in response.
Remember this in the future. Don't be afraid to criticize Bush and Trump judges for being chosen by extremist presidents.
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This is my experience too:
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In top legal circles, it’s widely discussed that Clarence Thomas is ... well, a mediocre mind. At best. He was installed by the precursor of the Federalist Society to help the billionaire donors to the Federalist Society.
For whatever reason, the vast majority of those with good LSAT scores are liberals. The Fed Soc finds the few who are willing to take pro-billionaire stances and promotes them.
Trump and the illegitimate GOP Senate have installed dozens of unqualified partisan hacks on the bench. This is going to be devastating for America. It will be the biggest consequence of the Trump farce.
I was responding to your fine detailed remarks on Roberts the committed ideologue. I don't doubt that he worked hard to show how conservative he is. My point was that self interest for Roberts et al, may in several ways supercede ideology. The obvious case was Roberts upholding Obamacare against the rage in Court from Scalia, as well as 'cons everywhere - his fear seemed to be the ghost of Chief Justice Taney's inhuman decisions and ugly reputation. Also, Roberts the would be history professor, is quite aware of the Trump threat to the SCOTUS, - ideology be damned.
My arguments though, having seen DC politics here for a long time, I've always been surprised at how self-interested many of the players are. I used Thomas, because in my meeting with him was totally against what he professed to be, on the fast track up the 'con ladder. His famous, 'no Supreme Ct bench comments for 10 years' [wow!
] seems to confirm his limited, actual interest in principle, ideology, etc. [The general judicial gloss on his career also confirms that].
