Republicans must be careful not to drive Chief Justice Roberts to the middle...

[kentuck]

Because the middle is owned by the Democratic Party. Republicans own the right and the far right.

If they continue to dog him like they have after his vote today, they could very well drive him to the middle. He could actually vote for cases on their merits, rather than if they are good for the Republican Party.

Republicans are dragging him over the coals for his vote to keep "Obamacare" in tact. This has royally pissed off a lot of Republicans on the right. Roberts is human, like the rest of us, and will only take so much torment from the right before he decides against them. This was a good day for Democrats, in more ways than one.

[Tx4obama]

1. Good. Let them drive him to the middle :) n/t

[bluestateguy]

2. Blackmun, Stevens, Souter, O'Connor and Powell all started off as conservatives

And as the years went by they inched more and more to the center and even the left.

Will Roberts follow? Too early to tell.

[cojoel]

4. So did Earl Warren

he morphed in a major way

[BeyondGeography]

3. He's dead to them now

And, you're right he is human and can't help but be affected by their vitriol.

It wouldn't surprise me if he saw it all coming and factored it into his decision, and it helped more than hurt. He basically threw Fat Tony, Clarence the Dunce and Sammy the Hack under the bus. This was a legacy building vote, and I think it tells us he sees a better future for his Chief Justiceship by putting daylight between himself and the irredeemable hacks. The coming storm from the Right will only create more daylight, which means his vote today will keep on working for him personally in a good way.