John Roberts absurdly suggests the Supreme Court has no ‘political bias’
In his first term as president, Donald Trump built a conservative 6-3 supermajority on the Supreme Court. Ever since, the nation’s highest court has repeatedly issued increasingly extreme, far-right decisions on topics of abortion, race, the environment, corruption, and much more.
The Supreme Court has eliminated federal protections for abortion rights; limited the federal government’s ability to regulate carbon emissions, protect Americans’ drinking water, and limit ozone pollution; gutted federal agencies’ ability to implement regulations generally; opened up long-standing regulations to new challenges; made it easier for states to enact racial gerrymanders; eliminated college affirmative action policies; found businesses can discriminate against LGBTQ+ customers; permitted public school employees to lead students in prayer; decided that companies can pay public officials gratuities, or thank-you payments, for corrupt contracting decisions; and broadly shielded Trump from criminal prosecution for any so-called official acts he committed as president.
Trump is so proud of the conservatives on the court that he frequently praised the justices, individually by name, at 2024 campaign events — thanking them for their “courage” in deciding to overturn Roe v. Wade, so states could ban abortion. At a September rally, Trump called the conservative justices “very brave” and argued that “people should be put in jail” for criticizing them.
The Supreme Court’s chief justice, John Roberts, is now echoing Trump’s demand that people stop criticizing him, his colleagues, and other federal jurists — while continuing to pretend that judges are not political. [Continue reading…]