Today’s radical decisions have been delivered exclusively by justices handpicked through a pipeline designed to ensure ideological loyalty to corporate and religious elites
I generally refer to it as the Roberts Republican Court: this seems the most precise appellation for what is in reality not a high court as the founding fathers envisioned it, but a ruthless political apparatus.
It is less a court than it is a constitutional convention in robes, rewriting the founding document on the fly in order to create the conditions for authoritarian, single-party rule.
Mission accomplished.
For years, John Roberts, like Mitch McConnell, has been the beneficiary of gushing floods of prose from Beltway journalists. They have run a sort of unearned PR campaign on his behalf, rarely taking the trouble to examine the troubling trajectory of his rulings, especially the catastrophe of Citizens United or, more subtly, the piecemeal dismantling of the Voting Rights Act that preoccupied Roberts from Crawford v Marion County to Brnovich v DNC.
They perpetuated the fiction of "originalism" rather than debunking it. They took a bothsides, neutral approach to the worst of the rulings.
Glowing coverage of both men (the myth of Roberts' gravitas and principle, the myth of McConnell's matchless parliamentary skills) gilded over the reality that Roberts was a hatchet man for Leonard Leo's antidemocracy conspiracy, while McConnell was a bag man for the billionaires.
That coverage provided both men with the cover they needed to bring about this catastrophic transformation of the republic into which they had been lucky enough to be born.
With the support of the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court, president Musk and the Felon are quickly changing the United States of America into Putin's Russia, an authoritarian theocracy with the Felon as its leader and the American oligarchs running the Country.
The Robert's Court wants to hold power. Unfortunately, for NC and FL, their Supreme Courts have decided to relinquish power to the individual legislatures. Of course the six Christian Nationalists lied when they said the Court would take cases when State Courts refused to follow their constitutions, as the Supreme Courts in NC and FL have done.
It's long been clear to me that John Roberts consistently sides with business interests when they conflict with the interests of the American people. Citizens United is but one example. The Roberts court, with its extreme tilt towards business "citizens" who can't physically vote, serve on a jury or otherwise prove that they are human, has brought us this oligarchy/kleptocracy with Musk as its leader.
Thanks for an excellent, meaty piece. The nugget: "With Biden pursuing stronger antitrust measures, worker protections, and corporate taxation, the business class decided it was better off with Trump, none more dramatically than tech interests." Given the steep slide by so many measures of the US economy, they may be sorry they got their wish.
The stacked, packed, on-the-take, and in-the-bag Roberts Court is a disgrace to the nation - even a benighted kleptocracy like The Banana Republic of Trumpistan (formerly known as The United States of America).
It seems to me that, in spite of how hard I look through the daily news, I cannot find much at all that points me to believe that American government is able or competent to deal with this situation, or to protect itself from this onslaught.
I’ve sweated bullets over the Roberts Court since at least 2010 and its Citizens United decision. From the first moment it was clear the level of threat that decision was to our democracy.
Calling it what it is, the Roberts Court, is a good start. Martin Luther King was right, it is often the opponents of progress - cloaking themselves as reasonable and moderate - who are the most dangerous. Roberts is Exhibit A.
I'm thinking more along the lines of Robert's Federalist Society Court (RFSC for short). Or Robert's For Sale Court. Gotta admit, kind of like the second one more.
Sad but true. These six justices are not "conservative" but are instead result driven ideologues. When they want one absurd result, they say they are strictly construing the Constitution and when they want another they write non-existent language into the Constitution or ignore words clearly there. Thus, we get one decision that makes corporations into "people" for First Amendment purposes, another that writes an immunity provision into the Constitution to protect Trump and another that ignores the "organized militia" language in the Second Amendment.
The idea that corporation have personhood, as been apart of the US legal system since the founding of our nation. Check out, "We the Corporations" by Adam Winkler.
" [the Roberts court] is an instrument of a decades-long judicial coup orchestrated by the revanchist coalition of billionaire money and religious right mobilization operationalized by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. "
Boom. In a nutshell, baby. Its genesis goes back to Fred Koch in the 1950s. Capture of the judicial system, as personified by Leo and Roberts over the last twenty years (and notoriously abetted at key moments by Mitch McConnell) has been an oligarchic extremist-right wet dream come true.
Well written and to the point. Roberts showed his disapproval in no uncertain terns. Roberts knew how incriminating that made him look. Roberts walking off without a word must have teed Trump off royally. Trump can never understand how compromised he made Roberts appear.
Trump's mouth is going to be his downfall. Trump has compromised himself in so many ways in a very short time. Now if he will only do something that can prove his true intentions. others who know how to use it as evidence against him will land him in an impeachment hearing.
I keep remembering that Roberts is a supporter of the Unitary Executive idea. Underneath it all he is all in on undermining the checks and balances of the 3 branch structure.
Name me a leader in the religious elite in this election cycle...there is no Pat Robertson. Franklin Graham is hardly the stuff that his father was. Jesse Jackson is nowhere to be seen or heard. No Jim and Tammy Fay, no Malcolm X, no MLK. There is this entity they call Christian Nationalism, apparently a headless beast. There is no champion to carry that flag.
I generally refer to it as the Roberts Republican Court: this seems the most precise appellation for what is in reality not a high court as the founding fathers envisioned it, but a ruthless political apparatus.
It is less a court than it is a constitutional convention in robes, rewriting the founding document on the fly in order to create the conditions for authoritarian, single-party rule.
Mission accomplished.
For years, John Roberts, like Mitch McConnell, has been the beneficiary of gushing floods of prose from Beltway journalists. They have run a sort of unearned PR campaign on his behalf, rarely taking the trouble to examine the troubling trajectory of his rulings, especially the catastrophe of Citizens United or, more subtly, the piecemeal dismantling of the Voting Rights Act that preoccupied Roberts from Crawford v Marion County to Brnovich v DNC.
They perpetuated the fiction of "originalism" rather than debunking it. They took a bothsides, neutral approach to the worst of the rulings.
Glowing coverage of both men (the myth of Roberts' gravitas and principle, the myth of McConnell's matchless parliamentary skills) gilded over the reality that Roberts was a hatchet man for Leonard Leo's antidemocracy conspiracy, while McConnell was a bag man for the billionaires.
That coverage provided both men with the cover they needed to bring about this catastrophic transformation of the republic into which they had been lucky enough to be born.
Well said. I'm grateful for the run down on Roberts. I knew exactly what McConnell was and is.
How about "The Roberts Star Chamber"? A bit history-nerdy, but accurate.
With the support of the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court, president Musk and the Felon are quickly changing the United States of America into Putin's Russia, an authoritarian theocracy with the Felon as its leader and the American oligarchs running the Country.
The Robert's Court wants to hold power. Unfortunately, for NC and FL, their Supreme Courts have decided to relinquish power to the individual legislatures. Of course the six Christian Nationalists lied when they said the Court would take cases when State Courts refused to follow their constitutions, as the Supreme Courts in NC and FL have done.
2010's Citizens United is the root of all evil.
It's long been clear to me that John Roberts consistently sides with business interests when they conflict with the interests of the American people. Citizens United is but one example. The Roberts court, with its extreme tilt towards business "citizens" who can't physically vote, serve on a jury or otherwise prove that they are human, has brought us this oligarchy/kleptocracy with Musk as its leader.
Thanks for an excellent, meaty piece. The nugget: "With Biden pursuing stronger antitrust measures, worker protections, and corporate taxation, the business class decided it was better off with Trump, none more dramatically than tech interests." Given the steep slide by so many measures of the US economy, they may be sorry they got their wish.
The stacked, packed, on-the-take, and in-the-bag Roberts Court is a disgrace to the nation - even a benighted kleptocracy like The Banana Republic of Trumpistan (formerly known as The United States of America).
We'd better start learning to say "Dah," and "Nyet."
And, just ponder this for a minute.
It seems to me that, in spite of how hard I look through the daily news, I cannot find much at all that points me to believe that American government is able or competent to deal with this situation, or to protect itself from this onslaught.
We are too slow and way too divided to win.
I’ve sweated bullets over the Roberts Court since at least 2010 and its Citizens United decision. From the first moment it was clear the level of threat that decision was to our democracy.
Calling it what it is, the Roberts Court, is a good start. Martin Luther King was right, it is often the opponents of progress - cloaking themselves as reasonable and moderate - who are the most dangerous. Roberts is Exhibit A.
I'm thinking more along the lines of Robert's Federalist Society Court (RFSC for short). Or Robert's For Sale Court. Gotta admit, kind of like the second one more.
Sad but true. These six justices are not "conservative" but are instead result driven ideologues. When they want one absurd result, they say they are strictly construing the Constitution and when they want another they write non-existent language into the Constitution or ignore words clearly there. Thus, we get one decision that makes corporations into "people" for First Amendment purposes, another that writes an immunity provision into the Constitution to protect Trump and another that ignores the "organized militia" language in the Second Amendment.
The idea that corporation have personhood, as been apart of the US legal system since the founding of our nation. Check out, "We the Corporations" by Adam Winkler.
" [the Roberts court] is an instrument of a decades-long judicial coup orchestrated by the revanchist coalition of billionaire money and religious right mobilization operationalized by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. "
Boom. In a nutshell, baby. Its genesis goes back to Fred Koch in the 1950s. Capture of the judicial system, as personified by Leo and Roberts over the last twenty years (and notoriously abetted at key moments by Mitch McConnell) has been an oligarchic extremist-right wet dream come true.
Face it, the court caters to a psychopath...bad as HItler
Well written and to the point. Roberts showed his disapproval in no uncertain terns. Roberts knew how incriminating that made him look. Roberts walking off without a word must have teed Trump off royally. Trump can never understand how compromised he made Roberts appear.
Trump's mouth is going to be his downfall. Trump has compromised himself in so many ways in a very short time. Now if he will only do something that can prove his true intentions. others who know how to use it as evidence against him will land him in an impeachment hearing.
Fantastic albeit shocking insight. Better, though, to be aghast than ignorant.
I keep remembering that Roberts is a supporter of the Unitary Executive idea. Underneath it all he is all in on undermining the checks and balances of the 3 branch structure.
Except where it limits the authority of himself and his court... that's our ray of hope.
Name me a leader in the religious elite in this election cycle...there is no Pat Robertson. Franklin Graham is hardly the stuff that his father was. Jesse Jackson is nowhere to be seen or heard. No Jim and Tammy Fay, no Malcolm X, no MLK. There is this entity they call Christian Nationalism, apparently a headless beast. There is no champion to carry that flag.
I refer you to the below URL from yesterday 3-8-25: Democrats "major entry into the litigation battles against authoritarianism" URL:
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/here-comes-the-house?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2dcaf10a-cf72-444f-9752-c4f9110e8b75_740x252.png&open=false