Tuesday, May 03, 2022

A Separate Piece

An actual lawyer and former Supreme Court clerk tells Mitch McConnell to stick it where the sun don't shine, because he doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. I pause to interject this is in line with my thinking. The opinion is so extreme that "sanding off the rough edges," as someone on MSNBC said this morning, seems impossible now. Bug? Or feature? Any backing down from it will indicate the Court lacks the courage of its convictions. Especially since this opinion opens the door to undo almost everything the Warren court did.  That alone will justify the leak; and the point of the leak is that the Court can't afford to back away from this diatribe presented as a sage legal opinion.  Consider the reaction of Ted Cruz:

"The reason it was leaked is some, presumably, left-wing law clerk wanted to put political pressure on the five justices that are presumably in the majority right now," he added. "You mentioned an FBI investigation. I hope there is a serious one and I hope whoever is responsible, not only is fired instantly, but is prosecuted and serves real jailtime for violating the confidences of the Supreme Court."

Can the Court afford to amend this opinion after that?  Tone it down so it isn't the dreadful argument that it is?  Kinda hard to see it.  If this is the reaction the leaker was going for, they must be very happy today. And, of course, if you don't think McConnell and Cruz are spouting talking points, I've got some land in coastal Louisiana to sell you.

Indeed, I think there was strategy in Roberts announcing it was a valid draft opinion. He either supports it, or he's trying to keep his Bench from literally exploding into 9 little fiefdoms. I'd think of him as John Boehner trying to ride herd on the Tea Party loonies in the House when he was Speaker; except I really don't have any sympathy for Boehner, and it just underscores my opinion that Roberts welcomes this, even as he has to try to appear more reasonable (or at least less impassioned) than Alito. "Still waters run deep" is not always a compliment. I still wouldn't put it past a justice. The Roe conclusion was leaked by a clerk (most likely), but not the opinion itself. I can more easily see a Justice leaking this nentire opinion, than a clerk doing it on her/his own initiative.  Justices hold office for life.  What're ya gonna do to them?

1 comment:

  1. Linda Greenlaw, one of the better observers of the court was recently interviewed (and despite several tries I can't find it) about Roe and the coming decision. The interviewer brought up Roberts as a moderating force for the other 5 conservative judges. She dismissed the question, she said Roberts wants to get to the same place as the other five, just at a slower pace. Anyone holding out hope Roberts will save anything is a fool.

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