Chief Justice John Roberts is mad as a hornet about all the criticism:
Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday blasted what he called “illegitimate activity” aimed at undermining the independence of the judiciary.
While facing criticism of contentious court rulings is part of the job for judges, some recent actions have crossed the line, Roberts said in his annual end-of-year report.
He outlined four areas of concern: violence, intimidation, disinformation and threats to defy court judgments.
All four “undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” Roberts wrote.
It’s pretty clear from the report that what he’s really angry about is the criticism that some of the Justices are corrupt and partisan. But it’s also highly unlikely that he’s talking about Trump who calls them every name in the book if they rule in a way he doesn’t ‘t like. Perhaps that explains this:
When we say that Trump “won” this election, it should always have an asterisk – because his candidacy would never have been viable if not for the shameless, repeated, illegitimate interventions by MAGA-aligned, Federalist Society-approved justices on the Supreme Court and the federal bench. In any other country, we would understand those interventions as part of an autocratic takeover, not a democratic victory.
These interventions include cases from before Trump’s time that were designed to empower Republicans and the ultra-wealthy, and that laid the groundwork for the MAGA blitzkrieg against our democracy.
These charts helped make clear the egregiousness of the abuses.
As the following chart makes clear, in the last two years:
- Every time he has faced a grand jury, Trump has been indicted;
- Every time he has faced a trial jury, Trump has been found guilty;
- Every time his cases have come before judges he didn’t appoint, including those appointed by previous Republican presidents, Trump has lost;
- Whenever surveys have asked, a majority of Americans say Trump has committed crimes;
- But every time he has come before the justices and judges he appointed, Trump has had his way.
He actually claims in his report that they have absolutely no political bias.
As recently as 2000, three quarters of Americans approved of the Supreme Court. Even more remarkably, there was no partisan divide; Democrats and Republicans were nearly equally approving. But, in stair steps since then, approval has plummeted, dipping below fifty percent. Unsurprisingly, though, the Court has retained its credibility with Republican voters – while plummeting to historic lows with Democrats and Independents.
As I explained in “Tipping the Scales: The MAGA Justices Have Already Interfered with the 2024 Elections” and “Breaking the Law: Trump Is the Means, Not the End,” Roberts stands alone in bringing no one outside of his ipse dixit majority along for any of his most significant rulings.
Those are excerpts from a superb post from Michael Podhorzer and he makes quite a case that the Supremes are at the heart of our problem with democracy. It’s well worth reading.
Roberts’ whiny screed really is beneath him. He has a huge problem with credibility and corruption on the Court and all he could do is complain that the people are being mean to them. Obviously, there’s no room for violence and intimidation. But the Court is behaving in ways that are inviting distrust and disdain. He needs to clean his own house.