Yes I think Roberts is not even close to being a judicial activist from the right or left.
But those that think he will not try to undo legislation that was enacted by judges, is to mistake what he is saying as well.
If you read what Roberts said, the first impression was he would not over turn wrongly decided rulings. But if you read carefully what he said was... If the court decided A using Reason B to justify it when it should have been reason C to justify the decsion, he would not overturn. He did not say what he would do if the court decided A using reason B and he felt reasons B and C were not valid reasons at all.
I found a quite a number of clever Delphic Oracle tyep statements made by Roberts. They are likely to have very different meanings in the light of his performance on the Bench.
Biden understands.. that is why he told Roberts he was the best performing nominee in Bidens 30 years in the Senate.
This line, I've heard a few times, and it bothers me. So I ask for a point of clarification:
Is strict constructionism judicial activism? And if so, have we lost the language beyond the point of recovery?
I did not say he would not undo wrongly decided cases. It would Mb>not</b> be judicial activism to do so but exactly if and how and when he might be ready to do so is unclear and he's not going to say so and ought not say so, indeed, cannot say so without becoming a judicial activist from the right. Carefully overturning really bad court decisions is a proper judicial function. Announcing in advance a political agenda to do so or not to do so (which is what the DimRats want him to do) is a politicization of judicial function, a form of judicial activism. That is why I wrote that we don't know if R v W will be overturned; it ought to be but it needs to be done in a proper judicial way, not a politically activist way. And unless Roberts is a liar, he seems to understand that that's the tightrope he needs to walk as a judge.
"Biden understands.. that is why he told Roberts he was the best performing nominee in Bidens 30 years in the Senate."
I was dismayed when I heard Biden had said that....