Chief Justice Roberts says Americans may "take democracy for granted"

[babylonsister]

https://www.axios.com/chief-justice-john-roberts-americans-democracy-granted-3f521c33-2881-4ba2-a05e-ce8ce061d542.html


Jacob Knutson
22 mins ago
Chief Justice Roberts says Americans may "take democracy for granted"


Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that Americans may "take democracy for granted" in his annual year-end message published Tuesday.

"[W]e have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside. In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital."

Why it matters: The statement about the power of online misinformation, coupled with Roberts' assertion of the federal judiciary's independence throughout the message, reads as a mission statement ahead of President Trump's Senate impeachment trial — over which the chief justice will preside.

"We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity, and dispatch."

"As the New Year begins, and we turn to the tasks before us, we should each resolve to do our best to maintain the public’s trust that we are faithfully discharging our solemn obligation to equal justice under law.”

Flashback:

Roberts and Trump disagreed about the independence of the federal judiciary back in 2018 after the president criticized judges who ruled against his administration, calling them "Obama judges."

That prompted Roberts to issue a rare public critique aimed at the president, saying the U.S. doesn't have "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."

[Bettie]

1. I'd love to believe that Roberts isn't already in the bag for The Impeached Orange

but, I'm not believing until I see it happen.

He can make statement after statement, but until the Senate trial, there is really nothing to hang our hats on.

He's a Republican, which generally means "party before country, every single time!".

[Drahthaardogs]

7. I do not think he is. His hubris is breathtaking

And he is smart enough to know that Trump will be viewed as a fool in history. He does not want his name associated with Trump.

[alwaysinasnit]

40. +1000

[proud patriot]

55. +2000

[WinstonSmith4740]

63. Common wisdom holds that the Court changes people.

I hope it's true for him. He seems to understand just how dangerous Trump is to our democracy, and I think this article is proof that at least he's willing to stand up, otherwise he would have never written it. He'll be attacked by the Trumpists for it, but I think this might just be his clarion call to the population in general that we'd better get this asshole out of office, or be prepared to watch the death of democracy in America.

[AlexSFCA]

46. not when it comes to ACA

it was a no brainer for a ‘GOP justice’, even moderate Kennedy voted to gut ACA.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Our Democracy depends on your service

Don't let her down!!!

[The Blue Flower]

3. It's more important that he doesn't take it for granted

I hope this means that he appreciates the danger that we are in and will act accordingly.

[certainot]

33. he's saying the 'deep state' is using liberal social media to set trump up

[Perseus]

50. Where does he say that?

[certainot]

52. i was reading his republican forehead. i hope he's not like sack of shit collins, who

says she'd like witnesses but has to add congress should have subpoenaed them, knowing full well trump was delaying everything. she's such a republican dipshit and like graham she'll figure out how to get out of it

i hope optimists are right, maybe the GOP establishment wants to get rid of trump

[OhNo-Really]

39. Roberts opened the door for Democracy's Destruction. Stevens Citizen United Dissent Exposed Roberts

Justice Stevens Citizens United dissent is an important read, to help understand how Democracy is being rotted. Link below.

Stevens clearly exposed the Roberts activist Court.

Roberts actively chose to reconsider Austin and McConnell. Citizen's United did not ask for this scope of consideration.

Justice Stevens' conclusion:

Essentially, five Justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case before us, so they changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law.

Roberts Court PURPOSELY opened the floodgates for corporate (even some murky) investments that had proven to corrupt Democracy in the early 20th Century.

So Roberts’ words are cheap.

Roberts is an activist judge. DeFazio and others wanted Roberts Impeached!

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2011/1/21/937831/-

My questions:

What grand outcome are Roberts, Thomas, Barr, Bolton etc hoping for?

A theocracy?
Plutocracy?
A thinning of the herd?

Why do they work so hard to undermine the standing finance & election laws that worked from the end of WWII through Reagan?

Is there an evil design?

Asking for a friend!

[alwaysinasnit]

41. +1000

[Perseus]

51. Yes, but intelligent people reflect upon their actions, if they find they were harmful they try to

fix whatever they did.

He has seen a lot from the con these past three years, I am sure that he understands that his way of life and that of his kids is being jeopardized by the republican clan, so he may be ready to make amendments and do the right thing. Let us hope that is the case.

I understand we are all apprehensive about anything a republican says, and we should be, but lets continue watching his moves then decide if the man has remorse and i willing to do something about it.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Interesting word crafting

in Robert's Note. Did he write this to Placate the Hundreds of AG's whom signed off on a Impeachment Letter as well as criticism of Billy Barr?

Robert's knows damn well he has stepped into it by not keeping the Courts out of the Policy making process.

[bluestarone]

5. Could Roberts be our new John McCain?

I really really hope so!! So much at stake here for our country!!

[Autumn]

30. If we have to depend on a Republican, dead or alive to save us we are screwed.

[bluestarone]

43. While i fully agree with you, i'm afraid we

Have no choice! (other than VOTE VOTE VOTE) (i just gotta think Roberts won't let tRUMP destroy our country)

[lark]

6. Yeah, sorry, don't buy it, not for one nano-second

Yeah, Roberts can write a very patriotic intelligent OP, but he doesn't mean a freaking word of it. I don't trust this bastard one little tiny bit. He single handedly brought us Citizens United and he always always comes down on the side of big business and rw policies. Taking those 3 document cases, putting holds on all and holding this up to March with no response until June shows his hand, his thumb is firmly on the scale for the rw and drumpf. Actions matter, not pretty OP's and he's shown a distinct willingness to turn us firmly towsrds fascism and ignore the constitution. If he cared one bit, these cases wouldn't have been handled this way, but he's signalled, the fix is in - dictatorship will now be us.

[sueunderh]

14. Don't Trust Him

Don't believe a word he says. Just trying to soften up his image before he goes in the tank for Trump at Senate trial.

[not fooled]

19. +++++++++++

[crazytown]

21. Justice Kennedy wrote Citizens United

[amuse bouche]

25. Yep..Roberts doesn't give a crap about democracy

[crazytown]

34. Roberts saved the ACA. Kennedy voted agin it.

[lark]

56. Roberts hand picked the case.

All of the russian repug SCORUS were in on this one. RW goose steps together.

[crazytown]

23. "he always always comes down on the side of big business and rw policies"

cf ACA.

[uponit7771]

59. +1, he makes his bent obvious

[ancianita]

24. I don't trust him, either.

Just the thought of this being a setup sickens me.

[Iliyah]

8. Those that speak with fork tongue . . .

Roberts is not in favor of equal voting rights, what I consider is one of the most important factors to Democracy.

[kentuck]

9. I hope he takes control of the trial.

It might piss off Trump?

[elleng]

10. 'civic education has fallen by the wayside' largely due to repug efforts.

[KPN]

15. And a complicit SCOTUS!

I’m already not happy this year.

[ecstatic]

11. Promising, but I'll celebrate when he actually does his duties

With rethugs, hypocrisy rears its head often. Just look at what Lindsay has said in the past. Still, Roberts has shown that he's capable of doing the right thing when it really matters and I'm hopeful that he will continue that pattern.

[House of Roberts]

12. I note that he did not say

that there weren't 'Federalist Society Judges'.

[Aristus]

13. So......he's going to help us treasure it more by crowning Trump king?

Nothing but words.

[KPN]

16. I'll believe him when he gives me reason.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Is he explaining why the Federalist Society and Republicans are getting away

with their unfair, unconstitutional strategic moves?

[NotASurfer]

18. When the trial begins I hope he's reminded about the part in bold there during some of the opening

remarks. His job, in his own words, about integrity and public trust. It's about the facts of what actually was done, being able to follow the facts and solicit testimony, and not to give a hearing to disinformation we know came from Russian intelligence. Anything less is a show trial.

[usaf-vet]

20. It won't be long before we all should know if this is BS or he truly realizes his legacy is in peril

In peril if he lets MoscowMitch put on a whitewash show trial. And lets Trump go back to damaging our Constitution and our Democracy


I hold out hope.

[ancianita]

31. How about the whole court's legacy?! This isn't about mere bs,

this is about Democracy vs dictatorship.

Roberts' legacy is the Bush 2000 miscarriage of election justice.

Flown to Florida by Bush operatives when its Supreme Court ruled to make the state do a complete recount, he SO intently prepped the Bush legal team to get SCOTUS to strike down the Florida Supreme Court's recount ruling, that Bush, once prez, made him chief justice. (I can't capitalize the title with his name attached.)

For the last 19 years he's put on the appearance of living down that planned, executed cheat, yet his record of tie-breaking rulings shows him more conservative than Scalia.

I doubt he feels any lingering guilt over Bush rewarding him the chief justice chair.

If he presides over a fake high drama of oaths and witnesses that still result in exoneration, every justice on the Supreme Court would know they've been owned, enslaved by the dictator Roberts had a presiding hand in. That right there would make RBG's head explode. That would be the whole Court's legacy.

We as civilians under the Constitution would have no recourse left but to beg the military to save the country from a dictatorship. But would they. I doubt the brass care who their paymasters are, as long as we pay taxes under penalty ourselves.

I hold little trust or hope in this justice's sense of justice.

[usaf-vet]

47. It will always be the "Roberts" Court. The bad the evil and the little good. Very little good IF

they get one more RW justices by stealing yet another seat by stealing yet another POTUS election with the help of the Russians.

[Volaris]

36. So do I. I think that written statement was an intentional grenade,

lobbed RIGHT the fuck into the Well of the Senate.

If I were Yertle, I'd be damned careful for the next 30 days or so...

[DallasNE]

22. Roberts Will Forever Be Remembered

For the Citizens United decision that is at the heart of much that he decries. Sounds like he can't connect the dots not take responsibility for his actions.

[djacq]

26. Chief Justice Roberts is FULL OF SHIT!

How Shelby County v. Holder Broke America
In the five years since the landmark decision, the Supreme Court has set the stage for a new era of white hegemony;

[link:https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/how-shelby-county-broke-america/564707/|

[mahina]

54. Holy crap.

I hadn’t read about this.

[uponit7771]

60. +1, Roberts wants to take an empirical view on racism and ignores the dates

[erlewyne]

27. Talking vague.

Chief Justice Roberts says Americans may "take democracy for granted"

Can he define Americans? Newt promised the American people
which was obviously the neocons.

The G.O.P. cannot be accurately quoted because they are so-ooo smart.

[smirkymonkey]

28. Yes, exactly. And you and your fellow Trump-lackey judges are going to prove that to us.

I have no doubt. If you had an ounce of integrity, you would resign your position. You know that you are unable to judge without a partisan bias.

"While working as a lawyer for the Reagan administration, Roberts wrote legal memos defending administration policies on abortion. At his nomination hearing Roberts testified that the legal memos represented the views of the administration he was representing at the time and not necessarily his own. "Senator, I was a staff lawyer; I didn't have a position," Roberts said. As a lawyer in the George H. W. Bush administration, Roberts signed a legal brief urging the court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In private meetings with senators before his confirmation, Roberts testified that Roe was settled law, but added that it was subject to the legal principle of stare decisis, meaning that while the Court must give some weight to the precedent, it was not legally bound to uphold it.

In his Senate testimony, Roberts said that, while sitting on the Appellate Court, he had an obligation to respect precedents established by the Supreme Court, including the right to an abortion. He stated: "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. ... There is nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent, as well as Casey." Following the traditional reluctance of nominees to indicate which way they might vote on an issue likely to come before the Supreme Court, he did not explicitly say whether he would vote to overturn either, however Jeffrey Rosen adds "I wouldn’t bet on Chief Justice Roberts’s siding unequivocally with the anti-Roe forces."

YOU are the last person who should be lecturing us about democracy when you go against the people's will.

[Golden Raisin]

29. A Republican, appointed by a Republican.

Nice sentiments but actions speak louder than words. Let's see what he actually does when the impeachment shit hits the fan. I have very low expectations of Chief Justice Roberts. I hope I am proven wrong.

[milestogo]

32. A Majority of the Supreme Court takes democracy for granted.

Wake up Johnno.

[czarjak]

35. The last Republican president was illegitimate too...

John Boy. Yet, you get to make decisions for us. Thanks, George.

[KentuckyWoman]

37. Citizens United.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/chief-justice-roberts-is-reshaping-the-first-amendment/

Activist Roberts can just shut the fuck up.

[James48]

38. It's New Years Day

I can at least be hopeful. For one day.

Come on Senate- grow a spine. Listen to what Roberts says.

[ancianita]

48. They know him the way we know him. He's their guy, and they all speak the same code.

I'd prefer they grow a conscience about their oaths of office.

After one minute of New Year's Day hope, I'm realizing hope is the trick reality plays on us.

Silly me.

[bucolic_frolic]

42. Did he mention the Constitution? Or is 'democracy' code for delegated powers?

Like Lincoln, elegant words can sometimes mean different things to different people.

"Dispatch" is a curious word to use. So I expect to see a speedy exercise of delegated powers where the will of voters' elected representatives is ruled on by Senate elites who discharge whatever they like. Roberts is not one to rule on political affairs. If he wants to be Republican, it'll be with a vital opinion that exonerates Trump but seems trivial at the time and can't cause Roberts any reverberations.

[panfluteman]

44. Well, DDDUUUHHH! Too many people taking our democracy for granted is what got Trump elected!

"Civic education has fallen by the wayside," well, ddduuuhhh, that's another understatement if I ever heard one. I said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll keep on saying it until the day I die: EDUCATION IS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM OF A DEMOCRACY! Too many people get blissfully ignorant of what makes our democracy work, and they can too easily get bamboozled by demagogues like Trump, which can lead to some very un-blissful consequences, like a fascist dictatorship, with its forfeiture of civil and human rights.

The following courses should be mandatory as part of a comprehensive and well-rounded civic education curriculum at the high school and middle school levels:

1) American History
2) American government
3) Civics
4) Introduction to Philosophy, Logic and Critical Thinking

This last course is just as essential in this day and age as the first three. Too many teachers are so tied up with teaching their students to standardized multiple choice tests, and teaching them how to take them, that simply teaching students critical and independent thinking has fallen by the wayside. Guess what - life isn't a multiple choice test! This last course is really what the student needs in order to sort out the arguments and proposals of a politician, to separate the facts, and the truth, from the lies and BS that's out there, whether from the politicians' mouths, or online.

[Midnight Writer]

45. I did take democracy for granted until Roberts and his brethren gave us Citizens United.

[aeromanKC]

49. But yet he himself along with Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh

are sitting on the SCOTUS due to stolen democracy.

[mahina]

53. Citizens United.

[calimary]

57. Bookmarking.

[UniteFightBack]

58. What is he going to do then to fix it? He is not just a spectator in this mess! nt

[uponit7771]

61. We'll see, words are beautiful actions are true

[pecosbob]

62. There's no question Roberts fully understands the assault by the Executive on Legislative authority

The question is whether he is willing to subordinate the Courts to the Executive. Recent history has shown us the Judiciary has no qualms about allowing the one percent to rule our nation, but are they willing to be seen as Trump's fellators?