Imagine what's going thru Chief Justice Roberts' mind

[PCIntern]

about now...

The Court is going to become the subject of public protest, vilification, accusations of harboring a drunken criminal sex abuser who should be on the list of offenders.

Everywhere the right-leaning justices go, people will scream and shout and disrupt.

We are in a Civil War and the battles will be fought in public spaces like restaurants, hotels, ballparks, and the like.

He cannot be pleased about this.

[RDANGELO]

1. and he might be getting an alcoholic on the bench.

[PCIntern]

2. Yes

I did use the word “drunken”.

[Freddie]

3. Kiss your legacy goodbye

I know he wanted to maintain the “dignity of the court” but his party is totally responsible for the death of that dignity.

[DownriverDem]

38. True

Roberts did save the ACA though.

[at140]

54. Roberts just passed the ball to congress.

He did not want to become known as the justice who demolished ACA and take all the incoming.

[Power 2 the People]

58. Plus as a political operative he knew repealing Obamacare was a major motivator for the Repug base

to come out and vote in 2012. He knew that if the "repeal and replace" battle cry was removed, the Republicans and Mitt Romney would lose a valuable chip in voter turnout. After all, he already knew he crippled the ACA already by destroying the Medicaid expansion.

[at140]

59. Spot On!!

[calimary]

63. Hopefully he'll feel the same way toward Roe v Wade.

He won't want to become the justice who demolished a woman's right to choose. AND take all the incoming. And remember, since he's chief justice, this court under his leadership is referred to and known as The Roberts Court. I'm not convinced he wants his name attached to something THAT divisive.

[at140]

64. Agreed, Roe will not be overturned by this SCOTUS

Kava is being pushed to protect the orange menace more than anything else. The Mueller noose is getting tighter around the orange neck.

There were more pure pro-lifers available than Kava on tRumps list if the main goal was to overturn Roe Vs Wade.

[Squinch]

4. Does anyone think - and I really don't know, so I'm asking - that he will see this deterioration

of his legacy and bend over backward to be more liberal in his decisions to contradict the expectations of what is coming next?

I don't have an understanding of what kind of guy he is. Anyone think he might go this route? Or is he someone who will think the fascism we fear is a great thing?

[rurallib]

27. I thought at one time he cared about his legacy

The part of the ACA that he upheld I always thought was a vote to try to preserve his legacy.
Unfortunately since then it has been pretty much nothing.

Roberts is a Republican soldier - wasn't he the leader of the "Brooks Brothers" protests in Florida? - and my feeling is that he has settled comfortably back into that role.

I am not a deep in the woods Court watcher - just my impressions.

[DownriverDem]

39. Could happen

Sometimes as years go by justices seem to change. We shall see. When FDR tried to add justices to the SC, it didn't work out. Then when it looked like Social Security would go down, two repub SC justices changed their minds and voted to save it. We the people must fight like hell and vote in November.

[EffieBlack]

41. I think that's a possibility

He may try to figure out ways to align with the more liberal wing on some cases by cobbling together majorities that don’t include Kavanaugh or at least move closer to them to distance himself from him.

Read “The Brethren” ...

[Power 2 the People]

55. I hope you're right Effie

Justice Stevens was put on the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford and ended up being a true hero for liberals. Maybe Roberts will do the same. I doubt it but there's always hope.

[EffieBlack]

66. I doubt that Roberts would ever be a Stevens or a Souter

But he definitely doesn't want to be a Kavanaugh and I suspect - hope - that he'll want to keep his distance if at all possible. And since he can't go to the right of him, the only safe place to go is further left. I'm not expecting him to go to the other end of the spectrum, but even a little bit of give would be better than where he is now.

[Power 2 the People]

69. Agreed.

[pazzyanne]

44. I'm not holding out for a Robert epiphany.

Remember this is the guy who gave corporations legal "personhood".

[oberliner]

5. He is likely thrilled

The court will move even further to the right.

[WePurrsevere]

6. He's probably not going to be pleased...

I may just be wishful hoping but of all the Republican appointed and/or shoved down our throats justices I think he's the closest to center, plus there's that all important legacy thing. I wish I could remember which cases but he's surprised me a few times so who knows, we might see him become the swing vote to compensate.

Like I said, 'wishful hoping' but hope is still what keeps me going these days.

[True Blue American]

19. The only thing Roberts

Voted for was to save the ACA. Every other time he has gone along.

[shanny]

23. Not quite, unfortunately.

It is true that he voted not to overturn the ACA--given the way it was framed, doing so would have been a blatantly partisan move. That didn't bother the other 4 conservative justices but Roberts is more concerned about appearances and legitimacy.

However, it was Roberts, alone, who inserted the poison pill of optional Medicaid expansion, which dramatically weakened the bill and limited its popularity in red states...making it less effective and more vulnerable to repeal.

[DownriverDem]

43. Guess what?

We are screwed. Folks who didn't think the SC was important, will see very soon how wrong they were.

[StevieM]

68. I expect that they will strike down the ACA at some later date. (eom)

[Silver Gaia]

36. I hear you.

Hope is my fuel these days, too.

[Solomon]

7. You guys kill me with your faith in republicans.

Why do people expect a republican to care or do the right thing? Roberts is an asshole. He worked for Renquist, a guy that spent his pre-court career trying to keep black people from voting. Roberts said we didn't need to renew the civil rights act because racism was a thing of the past. He's a racist asshole.

[PCIntern]

8. Yes but he saved Obamacare

for whatever reason he did that.

I'm not saying he's doing this for US, I stated that he's doing it for HIMSELF and the institution which he presides over, and thus his reputation.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. "for whatever reason he did that."

Commerce Clause and to give him cover to torpedo Section IV of the Voting Rights Act, where he wrote the majority opinion (PDF), which in turn automatically invalidated Section V of the VRA.

[Woodycall]

17. More likely

it benefited a company or companies that he had a financial interest in. These people are bad people. When we dare to hope otherwise, we are just projecting what a good person would do upon them. We think that deep inside that everyone has at least a shred of decency so that's what we project. Just like they think that everyone lies and is out to cheat and steal from them. It's almost a form of anthropomorphism.

[mr_lebowski]

56. Good assessment & analogy ... and welcome to DU.

"It's almost a form of anthropomorphism" ... yeah ... it really is.

[BlueJac]

9. I agree

[Woodycall]

10. Totally Agree

I for one will never be led down that path of misplaced hope and trust again. Republicans have shown time and time again that they are practically a different species than us. It's like an Eloi hoping a Morlock will do the right thing. It aint gonna happen.

[PCIntern]

11. You may be right...

but my OP was not extolling the virtues of Roberts: it was simp[ly saying that this is what he might be thinking. I didn't say that he would rule to the Left because of this. Just that it was disruptive....

[Woodycall]

20. I Understand

but what flames me anymore is this - right now I'm listening to some pundit on Mourning Joe say that the democrats just don't have a "feeling" for the middle class white people that are living from paycheck to paycheck and have economic anxiety about this and that. Bullshit! I worked with (construction), and know many of these people and they are (mostly) 1. ignorant (and yes, dumb) 2. belligerent 3. easily fooled (see #1) 4. low moral character in general 5. selfish (always worried and crying that someone is getting something that they're not getting and so forth). 6. racist The reason that Trump appeals to these people is not their effing "economic anxiety". They're just stupid, selfish, lying, racist assholes just like him. Sorry. Kind of drifted off Roberts but I have no mercy for and will give no quarter to these people anymore. None of them.

[PCIntern]

21. Me either

Sick of the whole lying bunch of hypocrites

[Raster]

12. Heartily concur! His is a Bush* theft seat on the SCOTUS.

[get the red out]

30. Yes

But I admit, I do catch myself hoping some R has a shred of dignity and concern for the country, I know better, but for some reason I keep hoping for it. But it is highly unlikely.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

34. i'm convinced they're automatons

I gave up seeing any decency in any of them except for the speeches Flake has given on the Senate floor against TrumPutin. That's less than a shred of concern, IMO.

BTW, and OT, I just used your pseudonym in a reply to another thread without realizing someone was using the phrase, "get the red out". It seems like a good battle cry for the midterms.

[get the red out]

49. I am always hopeful!

I keep hoping we someday GET THE RED OUT of here in Kentucky! Or at least have a D representative from the 6th district. R's suck especially badly here.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

50. we share the shame of traitor mitch

KY here, too. Almost 80% red where I live.

[LenaBaby61]

35. "You guys kill me with your faith in republicans."

THIS .....

And if Dems ever get the Senate back again, they'd BETTER put a liberal justice up there, and not let thuglicans scare them into NOT doing so.

Notice I said IF, because who knows what tRump will do if he loses the House this fall. He may choose to nullify the whole damn thing, and say China helped Dems win, so I'm leaving things as they are. It's not like he and his treasonous thuglicans won't lie, cheat, steal and turn into human ruskie nesting dolls to get their way.

Okay, let me calm down

[NeverTrumpDemocrat]

67. Even if Roberts is a hardcore right winger, as Chief Justice, he wouldn't want Kavanaugh

when he could have an Amy Coney Barrett.

Lets assume that Roberts is thirsting to remake Constitutional law, withdraw the right to gay marriage, end Roe v. Wade, roll back civil rights, etc., her vote would be just as good as Kavanaugh's!

And a vote from Amy rather than Bart would make it so much easier for even a very political and partisan court to continue to appear judicious and respectable and retain the public's confidence.

There's no upside for Roberts in Kavanaugh.

[mercuryblues]

14. roberts is getting exactly what he has made rulings for

I have no sympathy for him or any of the other fuckers who ruled in favor of Citizens United and againt the Voters right act. I will save my sympathy for those who suffer because of his "leadership"

[PCIntern]

16. I wasn't suggesting for an instant that sympathy is in store for him...

I simply said he cannot be pleased to have a lightning rod in his chambers. The less attention these guys get, the happier they are.

[BeyondGeography]

33. I fully agree with your premise

Roberts is a conscientious partisan, in that he wants the Court to stay above the fray even though he hasn’t been able to do much of anything tangible to put it there, not least through his own rulings. With Kavanaugh, this task becomes certifiably hopeless. Good Mother Jones article on that here:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/john-roberts-has-tried-to-keep-the-supreme-court-above-the-partisan-fray-kavanaugh-could-undo-all-that/

[FromTheAshes]

15. The one thing that can be proven about Kavano is he is LIAR who lied under OATH. nt

[Lars39]

18. And once on the court Kavenaugh

will try to browbeat the female justices, who I don’t see taking any of his shit.
Going to be a very tense court.

[bronxiteforever]

22. Great point. Supreme Court is now the Supreme Joke

Courts depend on legitimacy to command respect for their rulings. This is a savage blow to the Supreme Courts power and respect. A vocal, angry, entitled drunk political hack is the worst choice for a Justice.
Everything Trump touches he destroys yet it was the GOP that really destroyed the Court through the workings of the turtle.

[shanny]

25. I'd push it back further than that:

The Court destroyed itself through Bush v Gore. A blatantly partisan decision that resulted in the first stolen election, and two stolen seats that should have been Gore's to appoint (Roberts and Alito).

[bronxiteforever]

28. Well you are right and to further your point

Citizens United is the progeny of the Bush 2 Court. You can make an argument that the Bush 2 Court destroyed the political system based on that case.

[shanny]

29. +1

[keithbvadu2]

24. Clarence Thomas will welcome Kav.

[Nevilledog]

57. He'll finally have someone to eat lunch with.

[The Wizard]

26. The Court hasn't been supreme

for a while. The Mediocre Court is a more accurate description. Any governing body with Clarence Thomas on it can only be mediocre at best.

[bobbieinok]

31. Roberts worked for Kav's dad when the dad was a lobbyist

[3Hotdogs]

32. I picture the four of them, twisting their hands in glee and anticipation like Mr. Burns.

[calimary]

37. Well, I'd be embarrassed too if my own name were on it.

After all, this IS what is widely referred to as the Roberts Court.

My son who’s getting into watching politics theorized that it may move John Roberts to side more often with the liberals on the court, just to try to blunt all the shitty PR that’s begun to come the Court’s way.

Nice thought but I know better than to bet on it.

[EffieBlack]

42. I think this is a distinct possibility.

[MadDAsHell]

40. We've been there for 18 years already. This changes nothing. nt

[kairos12]

45. SCOTUS was already there for me. Worthless Reich Wing Court.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. He's probably thinking about keeping his twenty something daughter away from SCOTUS events.

[zentrum]

47. Eff Roberts. He's

...as responsible for this as any MAGA. Really. Trump is what Citizen's United has wrought. If you break Democracy, then anything can rush in---and it has.

You can bet he loves tax breaks for the rich, De Vos, the Mercers, the Kochs. The roots of this monstrous thing are very gnarly.

[budkin]

51. He's thrilled

Brett is a W guy, just like him.

[eleny]

52. I believe that he's licking his lips over this right now because he doesn't believe in the blue wave

Only if we take the House will he begin to worry. But today that ghoul is anticipating the right wing agenda sailing through American life.

[C_U_L8R]

53. He's googling "Eiffel Tower"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

60. He already has Justice Thomas, an incurious dolt who always votes "Repug".

Now he'll have another.

[rusty fender]

61. I'm sure that he is very pleased with Kavanaugh

as a fellow justice because they are likely kindred spirits.

And who are these people who will follow Roberts to restaurants to heckle him? Roberts will not suffer public humiliation, but Kavanaugh will; you are right about that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

62. However, he's now going to be the swing vote

and will be until one from one side gets replaced with one from the other. So he pretty much decides all the cases, possibly for a decade.

[maxrandb]

65. Like he fucking cares

He's a Federalist Society POS just like Rapey Brett.

We no longer have a Supreme Court, we have a Federalist Society Court. Raper, Roberts, Gorsuch, Alito...all fucking Federalist Society fuckwads

Oh, BTW, so is the FBI Director and Deputy Attorney General

[Calista241]

70. He almost certainly knows Brett Kavanaugh pretty well. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they're

friends. Probably like most Republicans, he's going to think these accusations are without merit.

[FiveGoodMen]

71. I don't think Satan is regretting any of HIS past actions

And I don't think the GOP are any better than him.

[pnwmom]

72. I suspect Class President Gorsuch isn't thrilled to have an athlete-party boy from 2 classes above

at Georgetown Prep, someone who brought a lot of negative attention to their alma mater, join him on SCOTUS.