Chief Justice Roberts Is Officially Irrelevant

Chief Justice Roberts, I have a message from your former professor:
You are no longer the star student.

"Having had both John Roberts and Elena Kagan as my brilliant students
in constitutional law, and having watched each of their careers
unfold, I can't help thinking that one of them, Justice Kagan, has
grown into her role as a wise jurist ...," Harvard law professor
Laurence Tribe said when I asked him about Roberts' latest comment
about the Supreme Court, and Kagan's reaction to it.

On the other hand, "Chief Justice Roberts has dwindled in stature as
his cliches have lost their power and even their relevance," Tribe
said.

At a judicial conference in Colorado late last week, Roberts tried to
convince us that the Supreme Court still has "legitimacy," despite the
uproar over its radical decisions.

"The court has always decided controversial cases. The decisions have
always been subject to intense criticism. And that is entirely
appropriate," Roberts said in his first public comment since the court overruled Roe v. Wade. "Simply because people disagree with an opinion
is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court."

He added, "If the court doesn't retain its legitimate function of
interpreting the Constitution, I'm not sure who would take up that
mantle. You don't want the political branches telling you what the law
is, and you don't want public opinion to be the guide of what the
appropriate decision is."

Not buying Roberts' spiel is Justice Kagan, who pointedly told an
audience in New York Monday night, "Judges create legitimacy problems
for themselves when they don't act like courts," and "when they
instead stray into places that looks like they are an extension of the political process or where they are imposing their own personal
preferences."

Kagan called out what's plain to many Americans: The current Supreme
Court has never been more political. And to suggest, as Roberts
wistfully did, that the court is above the political fray is
laughable, disingenuous, and arguably insulting.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/chief-justice-roberts-is-officially-irrelevant

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