By daniel0 @Adobe Stock
Trump Isn’t the Greater Risk: Traducing Political Norms
Many Democrats believe the movement’s highest political cause is defeating Donald Trump. They don’t mind traducing other political norms, and that includes trashing the separation of powers and the Supreme Court, reports the editorial board at the WSJ.
In the Sunday Times is a story that is part of a larger progressive political campaign to damage the credibility of the Court to justify Democratic legislation that will destroy its independence. Amongst escalating attacks on the Supreme Court, the story also squarely takes aim at Chief Justice John Roberts.
Did SCOTUS Assist Trump
From a recent Sunday NYT, the story’s theme accuses the Chief in three cases last term of steering the Court to help Donald Trump:
“How Roberts Shaped Trump’s Supreme Court Winning Streak.” is slanted in the way readers have come to expect from the Times, minimizing the constitutional arguments in the cases and highlighting the political benefit to Mr. Trump. The piece spins the cases from the legal and political view of critics, notably Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the member of the Court who has been most nonplussed in public about her status as a losing Justice in many constitutional decisions.
Most striking, and damaging to the comity at the Court, are leaks about the internal discussions among the Justices. The story describes a memo from the Chief to fellow Justices in February 2022 recommending that the Justices accept the appeal over presidential immunity, as well as follow-up notes from Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
The private conversation among the Justices after an oral argument was also leaked. Especially disturbing is a betrayal of confidence that will affect how the Justices do their work.
It’s arguably worse than the leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs, the 2022 abortion case. That leaker still hasn’t been identified, but it was probably a clerk or functionary at the Court. This leak bears the possible fingerprints of one or more of the Justices.
The Intent
The intent of the leaks is twofold:
(1) to tarnish the Court as political
(2) to hit the Chief in particular
Strangely, Justice Roberts is hardly a Trumpian partisan. Roberts has openly criticized Mr. Trump for assailing judges whose rulings the former President didn’t like. Everything we know about the Chief suggests he would have hated to be drawn into what could be called the “Trump docket.”
SCOTUS Left with Little Choice
Democrats used the legal system against Mr. Trump, obliging the Court to take the case as they marched up the appellate chain.
Democrats politicize the law against a candidate of the opposing party, and then they claim to be shocked because the Supreme Court does its duty to rule on the legality of what they are doing.
That this campaign may have picked up allies inside the Court is more worrisome. The story in the Times is part of a larger progressive political campaign to damage the credibility of the Court to justify Democratic legislation that will destroy its independence. That this campaign may have picked up allies inside the Court is more worrying.
We are at a dangerous juncture in American constitutional history, and Mr. Trump isn’t the only, or the greatest, risk.
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.
