This line of argument is ridiculous. Roberts didn't "volunteer" for anything. It's not like he saw that this case was coming up, and ran to the lead attorney, asking to be allowed to help out!
Roberts was asked, as the attorney with the most experience arguing before the Supreme Court, to help a fellow attorney prepare for oral arguments, primarily by serving on a "moot court" in the role of Justice Scalia. All this did what give the attorney an idea of the kinds of questions to expect. From what information is in the article, he did not help prepare the case, write briefs, research precedents, etc.
The lead attorney may consider his help critical, but only in the sense that she knew what kind of questions she would be asked, and was thus prepared to answer them. She still had to come up with answers that were reasonable and credible to the Supremes.
I am glad to see that we have so many people on this forum that are so pure that they have never done anything that they might not agree with in order to help a friend, family member or co-worker! [/sarcasm]
TRUE. Reminds me of the following quote;
There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. •Michel de Montaigne
Weeding a hopeless front yard is absolutely futile, but I did it anyway..
This line of argument is ridiculous
The answer to the question is, "yes"...isn't it? If he had "played the role" in the hypothetical case that he played in this case?