By TheCriticalMind | 18 March 2025
Daily Kos
John Roberts is a smart guy. He has a Harvard history BA, summa cum laude. He was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review before graduating top of his law class, magna cum laude. He also excelled in a legal career, culminating as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. Sadly, like many academically smart people, he has no idea how the world works.
Back when we all thought Trump was still subject to the rule of law, Roberts . He, along with his fellow conservatives, declared that Trump was free to commit any crime as long as he claimed he was ‘just doing his job.’ The man who famously said his role was that of an umpire calling balls and strikes gave presidents free rein to swing at as many pitches as they wanted to until they saw something they could hit.
Now Roberts is trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. NBC News reported on Tuesday:
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement Tuesday rebuking President Donald Trump and his allies for calling to impeach judges who have ruled against the administration.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said in a statement.
Trump allies have called for various judges to be impeached for blocking administration policies in the first months of his second term.
Chief Justice John Roberts, in a rare statement, is pushing back against Trump’s calls to impeach judges who rule against him https://t.co/zs6rYkOo1a pic.twitter.com/eMbxqEfDWn
— POLITICO (@politico) March 18, 2025
“Normal appellate review process”? What is Roberts smoking? Has he paid attention to Trump’s MO? The guy had no use for anything “normal” even before Roberts, and his fascist-adjacent posse indemnified the malignant sociopath from any legal recourse for his criminal actions.
How does Roberts think Trump will react to this ‘Stop, or I shall say stop again’ pusillanimity? Here’s a clue. Yesterday, Trump posted, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” It will be more of the same social media scorn for the judicial branch, until it is something worse — far worse.
Roberts should prepare to reap the whirlwind. When Trump decides that the judiciary is not the co-equal and independent branch of the federal government they think they are, Roberts’s plan is …. what? Constitutional government in America exists because for 236 years, Presidents — who command the military and almost all other armed federal agents — have accepted that it exists. In part because they thought that after their term, they would be indicted, tried, and convicted for crimes they committed in office.
This belief is why Richard Nixon asked for, and Gerald Ford granted, a pardon to the previously most felonious president in US history. If Nixon knew he could legally do whatever he wanted, he wouldn’t even have resigned.
Roberts has no excuse. He had a warning of Trump’s absolute disdain for any judge not willing to rubber-stamp his extrajudicial excess. In 2018, he criticized Trump for singling out an “Obama judge” who had ruled against the administration.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
Reporter's Notebook: On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement pushing back against President Trump's call to impeach a federal judge who had ruled against the Trump administration in a deportation case. However, on Wednesday, Mr. Trump reiterated his call for… pic.twitter.com/xQdjxG9LFv
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 20, 2025
What gave Roberts any idea that Trump was a man who accepted bad news with equanimity? If Roberts wants to do something useful, he should announce that SCOTUS screwed up when abetting felonious presidents. Declare that the Court has changed its mind. And aver that Presidents, like every citizen, have no legal dispensation to ignore the law.
Legal scholars will mumble how SCOTUS needs an actual case to change its mind. However, if Trump is willing to ignore the “Normal appellate review process,” the Supreme Court should ignore whatever legal niceties constrain its behavior. After all, in Marbury vs Madison, SCOTUS granted itself the right to judicial review. Now, it could grant itself the power of judicial review of its own decisions without needing a case first.
Sadly, it’s probably too late for that now. Thanks, John. Not only did you screw all of us, but you managed to put your own head in a noose. That’s pretty fecking stupid.
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