Did Roberts write both Obamacare decisions? (John Roberts vs John Roberts)

American Thinker ^ | 07/04/2012 | Robert Moran

[SeekAndFind]

This is getting ridiculous. John Roberts appears to be a one man constitutional wrecking crew.

According to Salon:

"This weekend CBS News' Jan Crawford reported that Chief Justice John Roberts switched his vote in regard to upholding the bulk of the Affordable Care Act. Crawford reports that Roberts voted with the rest of the court's conservatives to strike down the individual mandate, but in the course of drafting his opinion changed his mind, and ended up siding with the court's four liberals to uphold almost all of the law.

In response, according to Crawford's story, the four conservatives then independently crafted a highly unusual joint dissent. If so, this would represent a powerful symbolic gesture: Joint Supreme Court opinions are rare. Normally a justice authors an individual opinion, which other justices may choose to join. Jointly authored opinions are reserved for momentous statements of principle, such as in Cooper v. Aaron, when all nine justices jointly authored an opinion declaring that the court's anti-segregation decisions were binding on state governments that disagreed with the court's constitutional interpretations.

It's notable that Crawford's sources insist on the claim that the joint dissent was authored specifically in response to Roberts' majority opinion, without any participation from him at any point in the drafting process that created it. It would, after all, be fairly preposterous for the four dissenters to jointly "author" an opinion that was in large part written originally by the author of the majority opinion to which the joint dissenters were now so flamboyantly objecting.

[From The Deer Stand]

A perspective that arrive via email:

As a conservative I feel great about the Supreme Court decision, especially the mental acuity of Justice Roberts! Mr. Bolen's analysis is right on the mark. Weep no more my friends! Please read on!

Richard Bolen The Bolen Law Firm 600 Columbia Avenue, Suite 7 Lexington, SC 29072 (803) 951-2230 (803) 951-2328 (fax) @RichBolen -Twitter June 28, 2012 Lexington, South Carolina

To all my friends, particularly those conservatives who are despondent over the searing betrayal by Chief Justice John Roberts and the pending demise of our beloved country, I offer this perspective to convey some profound hope and evidence of the Almighty’s hand in the affairs of men in relation to the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare.

I initially thought we had cause for despondency when I only heard the results of the decision and not the reason or the make-up of the sides. I have now read a large portion of the decision and I believe that it was precisely the result that Scalia, Alito, Thomas, Roberts and even Kennedy wanted and not a defeat for conservatism or the rule of law. I believe the conservatives on the court have run circles around the liberals and demonstrated that the libs are patently unqualified to be on the Supreme Court. Let me explain.

First let me assure you that John Roberts is a conservative and he is not dumb, mentally unstable, diabolical, a turncoat, a Souter or even just trying to be too nice. He is a genius along with the members of the Court in the dissent. The more of the decision I read the more remarkable it became. It is not obvious and it requires a passable understanding of Constitutional law but if it is explained anyone can see the beauty of it.

The decision was going to be a 5-4 decision no matter what, so the allegation that the decision was a partisan political decision was going to be made by the losing side and their supporters. If the bill was struck down completely with Roberts on the other side there would have been a national and media backlash against conservatives and probably strong motivation for Obama supporters to come out and vote in November. With today’s decision that dynamic is reversed and there is a groundswell of support for Romney and Republicans, even for people who were formerly lukewarm toward Romney before today, additionally Romney raised more than 3 million dollars today.

Next, merely striking the law without the support of Democrats and libs would have left the fight over the commerce clause and the “necessary and proper “ clause and the federal government’s role in general festering and heading the wrong way as it has since 1942. As a result of the decision the libs are saying great things about Roberts; how wise, fair and reasonable he is. They would never have said that without this decision even after the Arizona immigration decision on Monday. In the future when Roberts rules conservatively it will be harder for the left and the media to complain about the Robert’s Court’s fairness. That’s why he as Chief Justice went to the other side for this decision not Scalia, Alito, Thomas or Kennedy, all of whom I believe would have been willing to do it.

Next let’s look at the decision itself. Thankfully Roberts got to write it as Chief Justice and it is a masterpiece. (As I write this the libs don’t even know what has happened they just think Roberts is great and that they won and we are all going to have free, unlimited healthcare services and we are all going to live happily ever after.) He first emphatically states that Obamacare is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause saying you cannot make people buy stuff. Then he emphatically states that it is unconstitutional under the “necessary and proper” clause which only applies to “enumerated powers” in the US Constitution. Justices Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan all went along with these statements. They never would have gone along with that sentiment if that was the basis for striking the law in total. This is huge because this means that the Court ruled 9-0 that Obamacare was unconstitutional under the Commerce clause which was Obama’s whole defense of the bill. They also ruled 9-0 on the “necessary and proper” clause. Even better both of these rulings were unnecessary to the decision so it is gravy that we got the libs to concede this and it will make it easier to pare away at both theories in the future, which we must do. Well done.

Roberts, through very tortured reasoning, goes on to find that the taxing law provides the Constitutionality for the law. Virtually everyone agrees that the Federal government has the power to do this as it does with the mortgage deduction for federal income taxes. This too is huge because Obama assiduously avoided using the term “tax” and now he has to admit this law is a tax and it is on everyone even the poor. That will hurt him hugely in the polls and will help Romney. More importantly though is the fact that this makes this a budgetary issue that can be voted on in the Senate by a mere majority instead of 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster. That means that if the Republicans can gain a majority in the Senate, it can vote to repeal Obamacare in total.

Finally the Court voted 7-2 to strike down the punitive rules that take away money from states that do not expand Medicare as required in Obamacare. This too is huge because we got Kagan and Breyer to join this decision and it can easily be applied to many other cases of extortion the Federal government uses to force states to do things they don’t want to. This is also amazing because Obamacare has no severability clause so by striking the Medicaid mandate portion as unconstitutional the whole bill should have been struck. If that happened none of these other benefits would have been accomplished. I haven’t read far enough to know how he did it but I am sure it is brilliant.

So to recap the Roberts court through a brilliant tactical maneuver has: strengthened the limitations of the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause by a unanimous decision, made Obama raise taxes on the poor and middle classes, converted Obamacare into a tax program repealable with 51 votes in the Senate, enhanced Romney’s and Republican’s fundraising and likelihood of being elected in November, weakened federal extortion and got the left to love Roberts and sing his praises all without anyone even noticing. Even Obama is now espousing the rule of law just 2 weeks after violating it with his deportation executive order.

That is why I have decided this was a genius decision and that I did in fact get a great birthday present today not to mention U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder being held in contempt. What a day!

[Ezekiel]

Type in John Roberts in the FR search box and the photo is in the comments on The Where is John Roberts posted article.

I was curious so I did that.

Has anybody noticed something interesting in the file name?

roberts_scherer_lazarus

I found this a couple days ago:

"During the next two weeks he will be taking part in a summer programme offered by Boston’s New England Law. He will also serve as a faculty member at the University of Malta’s Foundation for International Studies."

Together with Harvard Professor Richard Lazarus, Dr Roberts will be teaching a credit called the US Supreme Court in Historical Perspective."

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120701/local/After-Obamacare-US-Chief-Justice-heading-to-Malta.426656

I searched images for Harvard Richard Lazarus and the same image popped up sourced from NY Times. The caption is

John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, and Harvard classmates Don Scherer, center, and Richard Lazarus on Martha's Vineyard in the 1980's.

This sure is an interesting quote:

"Conservatives were like the queers on campus," said Eric Rofes, a classmate of Judge Roberts who later became an organizer on gay issues. "People made fun of them. They mocked them and saw them as jokers or losers. I don't think in the moment many people realized this was the start of an ascending movement. People felt it was like the last cry of the 1950's."

Roberts's Harvard Roots: A Movement Was Stirring
August 21, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/politics/politicsspecial1/21harvard.html?_r=1

[HerrBlucher]

What a pantload. The evil genius/siliver lining theory has been debunked time and again here at FR. I won’t repeat it.

But I will say that, even if Roberts was thinking in evil genius mode, it was both irresponsible and stupid. Irresponsible because it is not his job to invoke politics in his decision, it was his job to uphold the constitution. Stupid, becuase even though republicans are outraged and thus more energized to throw the bum out, there is absolutely no guarantee they will succeed, in fact, is probably an even bet at this point. If bambi gets re elected we are stuck with bambi care, AND, a court decsion that allows us to be taxed for inactivity.

Roberts decision was a disaster, no amount of turd polishing changes that. We can now try to make lemonade out of lemon, and that is all we can do.

[miss marmelstein]

So! It’s what I thought all along. He’s taking a vacation with his boyfriend. Charming.

[miss marmelstein]

I don’t know if Malta is a gay mecca or not. But homosexual activities are perfectly legal. I’m sure a google search will tell us where the gay beach is, lol!

[SERKIT]

Some people are saying that when everyone else is playing checkers, Roberts is playing chess. I say, in this case, he was playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”. (Tip-o-the-hat to “Big Bang Theory”.) His anti-seizure meds must be out of balance.

[Smokeyblue]

What an absolute load of crap.

People should stop posting this #$%^.

It’s been debunked over, and over again.

This was a disaster of a ruling and it needs to be seen as such so it can be combated.

There is not enough scorn to be heaped on Roberts for the nightmare he’s created.

[Covenantor]

Interesting follow up, especially since the beneaththerobes blog seemed to poo-poo the notion that any of three were gay, stating they searched out Lazarus and Sheerer and were married. And yet....

[Covenantor]

Prof. Richard Lazarus is the fellow on the right in the picture below.

More info. on Consortium for Innovative Legal Education

http://www.cile.edu/malta.html

[Bratch]

GayMalta.com

[miss marmelstein]

Beards.

[Covenantor]

More in info:

For the record the photo of Roberts, Donald S. Scherer, and Robert Lazarus appeared in the NYT article,

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/politics/politicsspecial1/21harvard.html?pagewanted=all

From NYT article

Mr. Lazarus, who roomed with Mr. Roberts in Washington for three years after graduation, said: “John was politically conservative. He was comfortable with it, but it didn’t define his friendships. He was very thoughtful, very open talking about ideas. For some people, it’s really a defining characteristic of how they define their lives. That just wasn’t the case back then.”

Lazarus roomed with Roberts at Harvard as well as in Wash DC for three years after graduation. Passing out of Harvard Law in 1979 that places them living together until 1982 or there abouts, proximate to the time of the photo at Martha’s Vineyard.

Don Scherer. ( Donald S. Scherer), the third man in the Martha’s Vineyard photo “sometimes in the 80’s” was provide by Don Scherer. Quick google “harvard Don Scherer” seems to indicates he’s in San Francisco and might have a Facebook page.

[Ezekiel]

People here were suggesting that this was JR's problem, but I hadn't paid them much mind... just figured posters were venting their anger and disgust.

These little historical details, though, don't exactly offer any evidence of normalcy. I ran across a post several days ago saying that Roberts' summer trips to Malta are an annual routine. It was just a random post so I didn't think anything of it or care to verify it. But now noticing his "old roommate" is in the picture (literally and figuratively)... ?

Makes one wonder if just before this trip, Roberts was shown photos of previous adventures on Malta. Or maybe he was shown a nice gift that might be sent to his kids, a book called "Daddy's Roommate", pics included.

*Something* sure made this guy jump the shark.

[dalebert]

well well...i think we may know how Roberts came to his decision to vote for Ocare.Our entire government is on the take..all branches at all levels. one big giant mafia.

[dalebert]

Maybe he heard from O’s main squeeze Rhomm..

[garjog]

More Grist for the “John Roberts Is Gay” Mill — 2005

http://underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com/main/2005/08/more_grist_for_.html

Justice Roberts BLACKMAILED for being GAY?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQWFs8R6Uzk

[vaudine]

Gay makes sense--his children are adopted.

In that pic, I would say all three are homosexual--maybe gay or maybe not.

If JR REALLY wants libs and media (redundant) to love him, he should just "come out".

vaudine

[mo]

“.Our entire government is on the take..all branches at all levels. one big giant mafia.....”

Ya don’t get inside the Beltway unless they have a “lever”” on you....that’s why Palin was sent packing back to Alaska. She wasn’t controllable.

[Covenantor]

I became curious in much the same way as you, trying to find the source of that Martha's Vineyard photo. Given what's been quickly assembled here since the SC ruling I'm starting to see the 2005 NYT piece on Roberts in a new light. That choice of photo and its implication seems unusual to me now. That Don (Donald S.) Scherer volunteered to release that particular photo also struck me as odd, almost as if he wanted to blow Roberts cover.

And this photo of Robert Lazarus shows that he clearly has ties to the Obama machine.

With the evidence of both Roberts and Lazarus at the Malta teaching venue, it may well be the indirect back channel leak to the White House.

Another item, might be significant or not, the lack of any indication that Roberts was accompanied by his wife and children to Malta. To me that's an ideal family vacation abroad. Daddy's travel and hotel expenses aren't greatly increased by the addition of the family and the Malta island site filled with history makes for an excellent vacation. But it seems that's not the sort of down time Roberts had in mind.

BTW hat tip to Ezekiel for igniting my curiosity about the Vineyard trio photo file name.

[Ezekiel]

And this photo of Robert Lazarus shows that he clearly has ties to the Obama machine.

"at the Request of the President"

I keep looking at that photo and thinking that this guy named Lazarus is barely awake, as if he were suddenly roused from a dirt nap. Or else he's got one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave.

And this was the photo UCI chose for their promo? He looks drugged!

Wonder what else he does "at the Request of the President."