The Supreme Court has become a political clubhouse, consumed with optics, log-rolling and media leaks. Its decisions in certain matters are sourced not in the text, structure or history of the Constitution, but in the partisan policy choices of the justices.
Rudimentary principles of judicial ethics are swept under the rug. Requirements of impartiality are ignored. The court officially denies this criticism, but there is no refuting it.
The court was partisan when it decided Bush v. Gore, Shelby County v. Holder, Citizens United and Dobbs v. Women’s Health. But it has never been more partisan than its decisions in the trio of cases involving the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and former President Donald Trump. This proposition was elaborated in a New York Times article by Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak on Sunday.
The Times gives us a few bits of news that were not out there and a lot of backstory that we only suspected. The article’s spotlight of attention falls on Chief Justice John Roberts.
Many had seen Roberts as an institutionalist who cared about the public’s perception of the court. He said he feared that if the court is perceived as too partisan, it becomes a legislature, and the public will not respect its decisions.
In his 2005 confirmation hearings, Roberts famously told the Senate that he would judge like an umpire calling balls and strikes. He said: “Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them....It is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.”
What he said is nonsense.
After the........