He’s a crisis for conservatives.
President Donald Trump surely did not need another headache at this point in his presidency, but that’s just what Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts provided him with that last week—not once, but twice.
Roberts’ rulings could not come at a more inopportune time for President Trump, who is being thrashed from all corners in the annus horribilis of 2020.
First, Roberts sided with court liberals to rule that the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to sexual orientation and gender identity, undermining President Trump’s most faithful and efficacious supporters: evangelical Christians. These voters not only oppose the cornucopia of sexual tastes being validated by lawmakers, but are (rightly) furious that unelected judges continue to push their liberal agenda and insist that Americans just accept that an increasing number of liberal values are somehow accepted and beyond debate.
Justice Roberts then decided that President Trump cannot terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, initiated under the previous administration. Here, he subverted President Trump directly, who has repeatedly called for DACA to end. On September 5th, 2017, Trump ordered an end to the program; he argued that the policy was never intended to be permanent and that it was an “amnesty-first approach” to immigration law—but he encouraged Congress to provide an alternative.
Although they are always doing so, liberal columnists were quick to warn that this loss to the judiciary dealt a severe blow to his presidency, and could mean electoral defeat in November. Of course, President Trump’s desire to terminate DACA was never the issue upon which he would seek re-election, but it is an emblematic policy for the President. He opposes DACA because it represents how Democrats have little respect for borders—a huge issue with the President and his base—and that Democrats insist there should always be loopholes to enable and validate illegal immigration. For conservatives, the message was clear: the chief justice was endorsing open borders by supporting DACA.
Roberts’ rulings could not come at a more inopportune time for President Trump, who is being thrashed from all corners in the annus horribilis of 2020. This year has included an impeachment trial, the coronavirus pandemic, an economic lockdown that almost produced another Great Depression, and round-the-clock looting, rioting and toppling of historical statues—Trump does not need to be sparring with the so-called conservative judge to boot.
Chief Justice Roberts is dangerously close to disemboweling the Trump coalition by creating a serious crisis of confidence: that this presidency, despite apparently controlling the Senate and the judiciary, is unable anymore to achieve its political objectives.
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Scales of justice.[/caption]
THE SO-CALLED CONSERVATIVE JUDGE
It’s ironic that Roberts was nominated to sit on the Supreme Court by social conservative Republican President George W. Bush, who incurred a considerable political debt with evangelical voters who worked for his 2004 re-election through organizations like the Christian Coalition. Roberts’ recent judicial activism is a betrayal on multiple fronts.
Perhaps it is time for President Bush to admit that Roberts may have been an unfortunate choice, too; because his decisions could not come at a more crucial juncture for the Trump presidency.
RINO media star Joe Scarborough, who spends nearly every waking minute eviscerating Trump, claims to still have family and friends who support the President because of his efforts to establish a more conservative court. In a recent broadcast of “Morning Joe,” he gleefully declared that the Roberts court was clearly not delivering for evangelical Christians, and that they, in turn, would be reluctant to support Trump in November.
There is a bit of political serendipity here, in a Republican president inadvertently appointing a closet liberal to the Supreme Court. Former Chief Justice Earl Warren, the father of much of the judicial activism that defined the Court throughout the 1960s, was actually a former Republican governor of California and was appointed by Republican President Dwight Einsenhower.
Eisenhower was no fan of the Warren Court, which insisted on interpreting the Constitution through the template of contemporary values, and forced the federal government to follow suit. The President, who exemplified the prosperity and clandestine diplomacy of the 1950s, always regretted the Warren appointment. “I made two mistakes and both of them are sitting on the Supreme Court,” Einsenhower said, referring not only to Warren but to Justice William Brennan (who also morphed from conservative to liberal when he put on the black robe).
Perhaps it is time for President Bush to admit that Roberts may have been an unfortunate choice, too; because his decisions could not come at a more crucial juncture for the Trump presidency.
But this is nothing new for Roberts! The chief justice’s apparent disdain for conservatives predates the Trump presidency. His apparent infatuation with Obama’s policies was evident as early as 2015, when Roberts led a 6-3 decision to validate the subsidies at the core of Obamacare. That decision (also rightfully) enraged conservatives.
Roberts has also shown a preference for using race as a determining factor in deciding people have been unfairly treated by businesses or government. Amid the current paranoia over alleged “white privilege” and “systemic racism,” it is a less than reassuring thought that Roberts would probably be inclined to lend the strong arm of the judiciary to Black Lives Matter.
In spite of all of this partisan activism from the bench, Justice Roberts ironically repudiated President Trump just two years ago for his criticism of Obama-era judges who continue to impose Obama policies on Americans. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them,” Roberts alleged.
Roberts would then go on to open the year 2020 for President Trump—as his impeachment judge.
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Law.[/caption]
“ROBERTS AGAIN POSTURES AS A SOLOMON”
During Trump’s impeachment trial, which was overseen by Roberts, the chief justice twice blocked questions by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that sought to publicly name the very “whistleblower” whose testimony lay at the heart of the Democratic Party’s attempts to remove the President. That individual, of course, had already been named by some media outlets, and outed by Donald Trump, Jr. on Twitter; his relationship with impeachment engineer Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was established; and his tenuous connection to the phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president was well known—but Roberts chose to disappoint Republicans, yet again.
His actions undermine the ‘pack the courts’ agenda entirely—what if all these conservatives end up liberals in sheep’s cloaking?
And he continues to. Roberts’ less than oblique denunciation of Trump’s policies is a flagrant attempt to sabotage the President’s efforts to serve conservatives voters by delivering conservative nominees for appointment to the Supreme Court. His actions undermine the ‘pack the courts’ agenda entirely—what if all these conservatives end up liberals in sheep’s cloaking?
It is also another declaration by activist judges that they are really in charge of policy and this country—try as you might, legislate as you may, mobilize the voters if you do, we are the ones really in control, and it will stay that way because we do not require elections, or ballots or voters.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), who diced Roberts into bite-sized pieces for his legal hubris, captured the treachery over the DACA ruling eloquently:
“It cannot be the law that what Barack Obama has unlawfully done, no president may undo. Yet John Roberts again postures as a Solomon who will save our institutions from political controversy and accountability. If the Chief Justice believes his political judgment is so exquisite, I invite him to resign, travel to Iowa, and get elected. I suspect voters will find his strange views no more compelling than do the principled justices on the Court.”
Get elected? When he’s trying so hard to ensure that Trump won’t be re-elected? When hell freezes over. In the meantime, Roberts continues to erode the foundation of Trump’s support while he navigates the nation through a most difficult year.
