Supreme Court Justices Stop Playing Nice

[Torie]

This article is from Politico, so no doubt many of you have already seen it, but I put it up, because it's a good read. I might add that I think Roberts is a superb Justice. I have the highest respect for his integrity and intellect. He takes the texts seriously, but interprets them in a way that is not unduly pedantic, which would miss the forest through the trees. He tries to give deference to the other branches to the extent he can in good conscience. He also has insights that other miss, such as the insight that the mandate can be deemed a "tax" for purposes of Constitutional powers, because the mandate has the same economic effect as a tax, while not being a tax for statutory purposes, because it is within the power of Congress to define a tax as they might wish. He's primus inter pares to me on the Court.

[ilikeverin]

I entirely agree, Torie.  I'm generally quite impressed with Roberts's thoughtfulness; even when he reaches a conclusion I disagree with (sometimes stridently), there's a sense of prudence behind it.  Although I'd like to think that my opinion is always right, I recognize at some level that that can't be true.  And, all things considered, well, lord knows George W. Bush could have done a lot worse.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Considering who else Bush could've appointed, it's hard to imagine doing better than Roberts.  He's not right most of the time, but things could've been so much worse.  I'm not sure I buy the article's talking about long term personal acrimony (e.g. the comparison to the 1940s).