That reaction is completely foreign to me. Anyone who tries to bully or intimidate me isn't going to get MORE of what they want but LESS. Otherwise they'll NEVER stop doing it, plus how are you supposed to have any self-respect?
It’s foreign to you because you’re not in a position of power filled with perks and you’re not addicted to those perks. I’d bet 90% of the congress could be blackmailed and all of them would cave if it meant not doing so would cost them their perks.
Ross Perot must really be disappointed. We can NOT find 535 honorable men and women to serve.
On the other hand, Justice Roberts may have felt that the Court should give deference, whenever possible, to acts of Congress, so as to not over politicize the role of the Court. In other words, he may feel that it is up to the legislative branch to set policy, no matter how foolish, and the Court should intervene only when it is absolutely necessary to protect the constitution. As Roberts stated in his opinion: "Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law, we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation's elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices." Since the commerce clause has been given such wide deference in the past, including the outlawing of what would seem purely state matters such as the intrastate sale of wheat or marijuana, he may well have felt that to ignore that tradition of deference would have signaled that now the court is in fact a political force. The more the court is politicized, the less its judgment is respected by the public at large. This is an important consideration and one that a chief justice has to take quite seriously.
“That reaction is completely foreign to me. Anyone who tries to bully or intimidate me isn’t going to get MORE of what they want but LESS. Otherwise they’ll NEVER stop doing it, plus how are you supposed to have any self-respect? “
Maybe with you, but I suspect that Roberts wanted to see his grandchildren again - and I only very slightly exaggerate.
We got to see the political threats, not the death threats (and worse) that the Dems use behind the scenes.
Sure, it’s easy to think you’d stand up to it, or that Roberts should not have joined the court if he couldn’t - but this case was the biggest since Roe vs. Wade and the level of coercion was likely an order of magnitude higher than the court has ever seen.
Even so - Roberts is a wimp - I agree.
That’s why it’s beginning to sound like some kind of blackmail to me.
IMO it was just too quick of a complete 180 to just be intimidation.