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Roberts Has No One To Blame But His Own Court [1]
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Date: 2025-01-01
John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, is upset. Politicians seem to be hinting that they may not adhere to rulings handed down by the high court. As 2025 begins, Roberts, who appears to be Chief in name only, has what is being called a stark warning for both members of Congress and the public at large.
"Within the past few years, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings. These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected," wrote Roberts in his annual report on the state of the federal judiciary.
Roberts’ statement has drawn attention from the media because of its particularly prickly tone and its deviation from his normal reluctance to be drawn into overtly political messages. Commentators seem to be missing a much larger observation. The court has brought this on itself.
In recent rulings, it is none other than far-right justices such as Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, aided by the three justices appointed by Donald Trump, who have made it clear that rulings by the court can be ignored at no peril
Historically, the High Court has stuck to the concept of Stare Decisis, the legal principal that binds the court to its previous decisions. The Latin meaning is “to stand by things decided,” In other words, in the absence of a truly compelling reason to change a previous ruling, the court should not make changes to what it has decided in the past.
But that has all changed since the court’s bullet-proof far-right majority came to pass.
Even when the court has erred, it has taken extraordinary measures to change its rulings. In 1987, the court ruled that enslaved people were not citizens and could not sue in federal court, essentially depriving black Americans of their rights under the Constitution. In 1868, the 14th Amendment overturned Dred Scott granting citizenship rights and full humanity to black Americans.
The court has, on rare occasions, fixed its mistakes, for example in 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 ruling that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation. But in Brown, as in all other historical cases of the court overruling itself, there was clear, compelling evidence that the court had simply ruled incorrectly previously.
That is not the case any longer.
When the Roberts court overturned Roe V. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the right wing of the court wiped out 50 years of tradition as well as two previous rulings. There was no compelling reason to do so, technology had not changed, nor had public sentiment (not an actual reason for overturning a previous ruling). In fact, legal abortion had greater public support than ever.
In fact, there was no compelling reason for the Dobbs ruling, other than pure politics. As case in point, justice after justice, during their nomination hearings stated that Roe was “established law” with not reason to change it. Forgetting for a moment those stunning lies, clearly those conservative justices understood there was no legitimate legal reason for overturning Roe — or that would have state that.
To congress.
Under oath.
Justice Thomas has made it clear that Stare Decisis is no longer valid in any true sense with no dissent from Roberts (or any other conservative justice) it is perplexing that Roberts it attempting to admonish political leaders, members of congress, and the public that the word of the high court is sacrosanct.
Clearly is it not by the action of the far-right high court itself.
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