Chief Justice John Roberts touted the independence of the federal judiciary as a “counter-majoritarian check” and urged Americans rattled by partisan politics to keep faith with the Constitution in an annual report Wednesday that steered clear of direct discussion of modern controversies.
Roberts’ history-heavy statement made no mention of Donald Trump, nor the intense conflict that has cropped up between federal courts and the White House since his second inauguration nearly a year ago.
Trump has questioned the legitimacy of courts that paused his policies and called for the impeachment of judges who ruled against him.
Had to double check the source, to make sure this wasn’t The Onion.
Came here to confirm my exact sentiment.
We are circling the drain. Any day now.
Well maybe he should uphold the Constitution instead of wipe his ass with it.
That dude is going down in history as a giant asshole that was bribed heavily.
Justice Taney would like a word.
No no you see, when he talks about “judicial independence” he means “judicial independence from the Constitution”
“This arrangement, now in place for 236 years, has served the country well,” Roberts wrote in the report, which was released by the Supreme Court hours before the start of the new year.
“It was only when I started giving Trump all of the power that is supposed to lie in the Supreme Court that the arrangement started to fail,” Roberts continued. “I thought I could get an even greater position of power by kowtowing to the demands of Trump, but now he says that my ass isn’t as supple as it used to be, and that I keep losing concentration when I’m servicing him. But what can I do? He keeps falling asleep in the middle. Justice Thomas said the same thing. I knew people had said that with Trump, loyalty is a one-way street, but it’s shocking to experience it myself. I used to have all the power in the world, but now I just really feel used by this whole ordeal.”
Probably should have thought about that before you made the president a king
Great idea. How about we require that any partisan judge or lawyer has to retire and is ineligible for the bench and the bar?
Ya know it’s kinda funny that I’m finding I agree with Justice Roberts, I think it would be great for the Judiciary to be a ‘separate but equal’ “branch” of our government. No, really, this is a great idea. Like we could have like maybe three, separate but equal branches, maybe this is a stretch, but we could call them, umm, The Judiciary, The Legislative, and the Executive Branches.
What if each of them actually did their job? And only their job? Or am I being too fantastical?
lol that’s great
I absolutely agree in principle. This court however is corrupt as all fucking hell. I want a court that tells me no when I want to infringe on the freedom of others, not one that says anything is ok when the president does it. Also I want one that actually believes in precedent like Roe.
Unless the precedent is abhorrent.
But that’s part of believing in precedent. It’s giving due weight to precedent, not blind obedience. Poorly decided cases have been overturned before, but what we see today is a society in which it’s believed by right wing groups that any decision they don’t like can be worn down. Obergefell was decided in 2015 and a challenge against it from someone who lost her job that year made its way to the supreme court in 2025. This is because attacking Roe in that way allowed it to be weakened then defeated. Every addition to the court that I remember was asked the same question about Roe and gave the same answer, that it was settled law. You couldn’t make it through the senate confirmation without that. Meanwhile you’ve got one justice who wants to overturn every civil right that cited Roe.
The judiciary weathered the overturning of Steporford, and it can likely weather overturning a lot of the Roberts court decisions, but precedent exists so judges, lawmakers, lawyers, and citizens can understand or reasonably approximate what the law is and so we don’t waste a fuck ton of time and money litigating things we should be able to reasonably predict. These days everything goes to the supreme court because anything goes.
I’ll think about this, I’m getting sleepy right now.
John if you get on your knees right now and pray for mercy and beg forgiveness. The American people will be swift with their justice and grant you an early end of your life long term.
On the other hand the only reason I don’t want Roberts to drop dead right this second is because I’m afraid of who would replace him.
It will go a long way of making sure that happens as soon as he dies in 3 years.
