Time To Recognize

If John Roberts’ putative authority is that of a shadow puppet, it would be tragic for the nation. https://t.co/idAWLI2uVe

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) May 9, 2022

"Chief Justice" is a Constitutional title and nothing more.  It only appears in Art. 1, sec. 3:

When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: 

That is, the Chief Justice presides over impeachment trials in the Senate.  That the CJ sits on the Supreme Court is assumed by the establishment of that court in the Constitution, with other courts established as Congress sees fit.  Otherwise, frankly, the Chief Justice has a less well defined role than the Vice President, and about as much authority.

The CJ is first among equals only in that the role allows that Justice to set the agenda for meetings of the court.  The CJ only assigns opinion writing when he/she is voting with the majority.  Otherwise, the CJ has no authority over the other justices who, after all, don't serve at the CJ's approval and can't be reprimanded or advanced by the CJ's opinion of them.  

So, the simple truth is, Roberts has no "putative authority," and never has. If the current Supreme Court looks like a nest of scorpions or an insane clown posse, that's the result of the GOP and the right wing in America working for decades to gain control of the Court.  This is what they have wrought.

If some overeducated drone feels empowered enough to take such a drastic and unprecedented step for the purpose of keeping people in the boat, then it’s clear that Roberts’ putative authority is that of a shadow puppet. Which would be tragic for the nation, because his colleagues really have let their freak flags fly.

Well, the freak flags are certainly all a-flutter in the leaked draft of the majority opinion.  That cat is out of the bag whether or not the final opinion resembles that one in any way, shape, fashion, or form.  Alito threw in nods to ACB and Thomas (citing both of them each and severally indirectly) in what amounts almost to a fan letter aimed at getting their approval of his draft.  What's less clear still is whether Roberts was in the majority and so assigned this writing task to Alito, or even whether he stays there, as history records he changed his mind once before and scuttled what would have been a major reversal in Supreme Court jurisprudence a bit earlier.  All of that, oddly, goes blithely ignored by Mr. Pierce, who's usually a bit more astute about these things.

The tragedy is not that Roberts isn't in charge, because he never has been.  The tragedy is that the freaks let loose and showed their true colors the first chance they got.  What will be educational now is how much of the freak show Alito put on paper actually sees the light of day in the official record.  Will the brouhaha over the opinion (does anyone even remember we're only supposed to be upset about the leak?) rein in the crazies in their first chance at being themselves in public?  That would actually be newsworthy.  Will they go balls to the wall and make Alito's draft look like out of town tryouts for the Real Big Time?  That would hand the mid-terms to the Democrats, and maybe even get the Court expanded because the alternative will be to sow the judicial ground with salt so such lunacy can never grow again.

But, you know, the first step is to recognize what we're actually dealing with.  This doesn't take double super-secret lawyer knowledge.  I just googled the information on the Chief Justice, and read a Wikipedia article.  It's really not complicated.  If you imagine the Chief Justice must be "Chief" because it's in the title, well, obviously, you are taking too much for granted.

Sorta like the crazies on the High Court did.  There's still hope there aren't as many of them as they think they are.  But these perilous times have been a long time in the making.  What's really important now is that we realize that, and quit acting like everything important that happens is trending on Twitter right now.