As we sit here in the middle of 4th
of July week, You would think that this would be a good time for
Republican anger towards Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
to dissapate. No more charges from Rush Limbaugh saying Roberts is
now owned by The New York Times, The Washington Post
and all of the other so-called leftwing media outlets, No more rants
from Michael Savage saying Roberts must have somehow allowed
the supposed medication he takes affect his judgement on siding with
the more liberal judges on the court to uphold the Affordable Care
Act.
Conservatives should not take it
personal that the Chief Justice did not do them this one solid,
because something tells me that ol' Johnny will be returning to the
fold very soon.With the court looking at cases in the fall term that
deal with Affirmative Action, Voting Rights, and The Defense of
Marriage Act, Roberts has more than enough of an
opportunity to make up for the ACA debacle.
If I've never mentioned it before in
one of my posts, one of if not my all time favorite movie is Martin
Scorsese's “Goodfellas”. There is a scene where Henry,
played by Ray Liotta is released from prison and has no money to
start his life over. He goes to his former boss Paulie, played by
Paul Sorvino and asks for help. Paulie gives Henry this very sad and
dissapointed look, hands him $3200 and then tells him, “Now I have
to turn my back on you”
For all intents and purposes the
Democrats are Henry, and Paulie is masterfully being played by
Roberts. The Chief is on one hand willing to live with the GOP scorn
for doing what the law said he should have done, while at the same
time knowing that Dems should never ask him for anything ever again,
because he did what the law said he should have done.
In a lot of ways Roberts can be seen as
the Mitt Romney of Supreme Court Judges. In the mid-80s while working
in private law Roberts was once an adovocate for Gay Rights. He
prepared arguments for the Supreme Court case Romer vs. Evans, which
was a landmark case in the Gay Rights Movement.
Also during this time Roberts was an
advocate for the homeless.
If the John Roberts of 1986 were
serving on the Court now we would certainly have a better nation. We
would see a repudiation of DOMA even if it was just by a 5-4
vote. That John Roberts can't show up though, if he did George W.
Bush himself would fly into D.C just to drag him away from the bench
by his collar.
Let alone, the increasingly negative
vibes he is now getting from his colleagues on the court who come
from the right side of the aisle. If you believe the reports that
have come out this week which I do, it was Justice Anthony Kennedy
the supposed swing vote on the Court who begged and pleaded with
Roberts not to go the other way and uphold the law.
The other thing about that is there are
never any leaks coming from the Supreme Court. This Decision was made
months ago and we never heard anything about it, yet as soon as it
was made public we hear all about the anger and disenchantment coming
from the Republican judges. I'm not saying that any justices on the
court or any of their clerks are leaking this stuff to newspaper
reporters, but I would be suspicious of the one black guy on the
court whose wife, it just so happens, made it her life's mission to
get the ACA overturned.
Unfortunately the world will turn
right-side up once again. The GOP may never get over their anger and
resentment for Roberts and his ACA decision, but it will be us on the
left who will be feeling the pain of future decisions that will go
the wrong way. If any of you out there had already inducted the Chief
Justice into the progressive Hall of Fame, now would be a great time
to take down that plaque.
No comments:
Post a Comment