Posted on 10/08/2018 9:32:08 AM PDT by LibWhacker
If this court is going to break out of its predictable political mold on major legal controversies in America, it will be up to the inscrutable 63-year-old chief justice, whose ideology now lands him at the center of the bench, between the four liberals and the four most dependable conservatives.
Yet unlike Anthony Kennedy, who Kavanaugh succeeded, Roberts is no centrist conservative with a record of joining the left on closely watched social policy disputes, such as to uphold abortion rights. The instincts of Roberts, who rose in Washington as he served Republican administrations, have always rested with the right wing.
Still, Roberts has demonstrated an investment in the reputation of the court, and of his own. The 2005 appointee of President George W. Bush loathes public criticism that casts the justices as politicians on the bench.
"We don't work as Democrats or Republicans," he has said. Where Brett Kavanaugh stands on key issues How Roberts responds to the questions about the court's legitimacy and partisan tendencies spurred by the Kavanaugh nomination could shape public perception of the court for the next generation. In his new pivotal position, Roberts' moves in cases will also substantially influence the law throughout America.
On the near horizon are disputes over partisan gerrymandering and voting rights, environmental and other regulatory issues, and women's reproductive rights and health care.
(Excerpt) Read more at -m.cnn.com ...
*say
Roberts is worrisome. His decision on Obamacare is probably my single most hated SCOTUS decision in the last decade at least. Just absolutely horrible.
. . . has always been the hope to which the minority clings.There will always be cases in which not all conservatives agree - but in my adult lifetime that phenomenon has always been dominated by the “swing vote” of people like O’Connor and Kennedy.
Wouldn’t you just love to be able to see Antonin Scalia seeing this court today!
Which Fraud are you talking about?
If they were blackmailing Roberts over his kids adoption, and his kids being grown nullifies that, then Roberts may be in the mood for payback.
It took an Amendment to tax income ... but taxing not complying with a federal rule?
But, you know, fines require due process so call it a tax and none of that guff.
Obamacare was clearly outside the scope of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights yet Justice Roberts did backflips, contortions, and double jointed slithery to justify it.
I will never assume Roberts is either a constitutionalist or right wing. I simply don’t trust him to do the right thing.
Yep - and one must wonder if he is wimpy enough to have caved to a dem barrage of threats while on a left-leaning SCOTUS....would love for Gorsuch to end up in his seat...
Roberts is comprised
“Which Fraud are you talking about?”
The leftists’ god Obama that currently identifies as a man.
The left has its ways. If he becomes the swing vote, he will be lionized in the press, by the legal profession and academy, and in the history books as a great man of “principle, intellect and courage”. Speaking fees into the hundreds of thousands, fawning profiles in all of the most influential publications, etc., etc. Or he can end up like Scalia . . .
Probably badly.
Like I need a CNN opinion.
I love the smell of burning hair in the morning.
It’s easy, just don’t Lead them as much
CNN hoping that Roberts can save the Left. I’m not a student of the court, but we do know that the Obamacare ruling was troubling.
I agree. Roberts does want to be the next Kennedy. He knows that if he becomes the wild card, everyone on the left is going to put him in the spotlight and applaud his “bravery”, “independence”, “wisdom”. If he votes lockstep with the other 4 on the right, he’ll be vilified by the left. President Trump needs to replace Ginsburg (and hopefully Breyer) to ensure a true conservative majority. Roberts cannot be trusted.
Any court that tries to be *in the middle* of that, is going to be constantly violating the Constitution.
The Chief Justice doesn’t have any real power, except the power to designate who writes the opinion for the Court. And even that is constrained since it’s obviously got to be someone who’s in the majority.
He wouldnt hear certain important cases because he knew Kennedy would vote with Ginsburg.
Now, we will see which cases they take and decline.
When Ruthie gives it up it won’t matter what Roberts does. In six years any number of justices could leave....all will be replaced by conservatives!!!
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