Why and How to Hold John Roberts Accountable
I want to explain why and how to hold John Roberts accountable for Trump’s corruption. It is based on the following presumptions.
- Blaming Merrick Garland for Trump’s reelection has required inventing facts about the timeline, which is why I argue it is conspiratorial thinking.
- Because of how SCOTUS rewrote the Constitution, no counterfactual gets Trump disqualified before the election, and probably doesn’t get him to trial.
- This was a political failure that started well before January 6.
So one reason I advocate focusing on accountability for John Roberts is because he and his colleagues, in fact, are responsible. They intervened to ensure the leader of their party would evade accountability. And so they enabled everything that comes next.
And Trump has responded by flouting all concern about legal accountability.
- He set up a kickback system for his inauguration, the proceeds of which will go to his own pocket.
- Trump boasted of his expanded business deals with the Saudis.
- He hailed $20 billion in investments from the same guys whose payments Alexander Smirnov was hiding on his taxes.
This is corruption in plain sight. The corruption is the obvious result of Roberts’ grant of immunity. So I propose to track it, name it, make John Roberts own it.
I’m not arguing that doing so will immediately make John Roberts regret what he has done. While Roberts has shown the ability to moderate off his prior shitty decisions, he’s pretty wedded to making corruption legal.
But one of the only short-term guardrails on Trump will be the things the Senate and SCOTUS choose to place on him. They’ve failed every other time they could reverse Trump’s damage, but in his first term, they did push back on his worst instincts. So by at least making the effects of the immunity ruling visible, you increase the chance that Roberts might do so.
The same is true of the violence that Trump will stoke. Roberts doesn’t want to own that. He does.
There’s good reason to go through this exercise, repetitively, insistently, that doesn’t invest hope that it’ll somehow convince Roberts.
MAGAt has spent years building their villain: migrants and trans people.
Defenders of democracy have done a far poorer job of doing the same — so much so that MAGAts have also projected a false claim of corruption onto the Bidens, transferring it from themselves.
But it’s time that we made corruption — and the Republican-picked judges that enabled it — the villain. We need to explain the world, and the explanation really is corruption, not migrants.
And if we do so from the start, with discipline, with repetition, then when Trump’s corruption ends up breaking things, causing catastrophe, that explanation will be ready at hand. I can’t tell you which of Trump’s corrupt schemes will do catastrophic damage first. Possibly his embrace of crypto currency, or maybe the dodgy types who set up his personal piggy banks will do something so shocking that even Pam Bondi’s DOJ can’t look the other way. But when Trump’s corruption causes catastrophe — and it’s a matter of when, not if — we need to be ready to name it, rather than let them scapegoat migrants for Trump’s doing.
There’s one more reason I advocate this approach. As I tried to lay out here, polarization is Trump’s most useful weapon. Every time you present an issue in terms of loyalty to Trump or opposition to him, a great many people will choose Trump, even if only symbolically, because it’s the price of admission to GOP politics. So I advocate, as often as possible, to make someone else the figurehead for the problem.
Even in much of the conspiracy theorizing targeting Garland as the villain, I’ve seen people — smart people!! — who don’t understand the full shocking import of the immunity ruling. Reversing that oversight is a necessary step in reclaiming democracy.
Roberts has done more than any other player to institutionalize corruption, starting with Citizens United, following with decisions (names escaping me at the moment) making it virtually impossible to prosecute official corruption, and adding decisions helping to protect corrupt officials from voters (Shelby County, Rucho). And we haven’t even started with Dobbs and the 2nd Amendment cases. It’s as much Robert’s America as it is Trump’s.
Agreed. AG Garland and Jack Smith brought the indictments. The Article III branch has done the most harm in giving almost exclusive access to delay tactics to appease the “Imperial Presidency” reputation sought by the many.
Kenn Star and Brooks Brother Brigade started in 2000 with GWB ruling. NC refusing to certify after two recounts show too many are in the bag for the gop contemptible money grubbing and power grabbing they wish to inflict upon society. They’ve captured the courts through all manners, money, extortion, threats, etc. – the crown jewel for corruption. And the unstated theocratic SCOTUS 6 are as much at fault as Roberts.
“theocratic SCOTUS 6”
Their particular brand of theocracy is Opus Dei and don’t you forget it.
Thanks, Lenny Leo.
Exactly right. Bribery (oops, I mean gratuities) has straight up been legalized by the Roberts court.
Know who else was Opus Dei? Robert Hanssen, who died not long ago in Supermax after selling us out to the Russians.
Those who cling to absurdities will commit atrocities, in the case of the religious.
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FWIW, their “theocracy” is it’s almost entirely unbiblical. Most of the things they’re passionate about forbidding aren’t prominent in the bible, if they’re there at all (and in that case often based on misreading/reading into), and many of the things they approve are specifically and clearly forbidden, like “gratuities” to judges.
I agree that Citizen’s United which equates $ with speech and thus the limitation of $ spent on elections is a limit on free speech and the 1st A is at the root of most if not all of our problems as a free society and democracy. Until that is reversed, we are tilting at windmills. The Roberts court owns this.
so many people think free speech means free of consequences.
*consequence-free speech
Dear Marcy, thank you!!! I have long believed that greed and corruption are the root of our problems. It’s helpful that you narrowed it down to John Robert’s and the powerful influence of scotus decisions (there are many bone headed decisions, but I would add citizens united near the top of the list).
I love your idea and strategy to pin the responsibility on Robert’s. What can we do to help operationalize this?
This is encouraging!
Thank you. I am endlessly grateful that you target him for your ire. As do I.
He got his start by fighting the VRA (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/john-roberts-voting-rights-act-121222/).
He is responsible for Citizens United (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/pro-money-court-how-roberts-supreme-court-dismantled-campaign-finance-law)
Roe v Wade is toast, no link needed.
And his wife’s outsized tangled role (https://newrepublic.com/post/172304/congress-known-john-robertss-wifes-shady-financial-dealings-months) is apparent.
As bad as Alito and Thomas are, imho CJ Roberts is much worse. And that eternal smirk on his face says it all.
Thank you, Marcy
That eternal smirk broke my heart when it was visibly apparent on the dias as he did not take his oath to the impeachment trial to heart at all. It was a laugh to him.
It still resonates with me deeply his contemptible humor working in conspiracy with McConnell to not have an impeached President under their watch. They could have ended all of this then. For me too many were hold overs from Nixon (Stone, etc.) that wanted that all that negative legacy to disappear. All the players pushed to whitewash it all.
He is responsible for undermining democracy AND the rule of law. He owns all of this. I cannot imagine what he intended his legacy would be. if not this. His plan laid bare.
He is disgusting. It is outrageous. The Bush family should not escape culpability.
A very appropriate and excellent piece today!
In addition to CJ Roberts, I would add Leonard Leo and Steve Calabresi, the two current executives at the Federalist Society (Calabresi is a co-founder) and many of their Federalist Society attorney members who must also be held accountable.
For example, I do not believe that Judge Aileen Cannon, an active member of the Federalist Society, is making her favorable Trump rulings over the past couple of years, including yesterday’s ruling on the Jack Smith’s Report, unilaterally and without inspiration, guidance and assistance by several of Calabresi’s hand-picked Federalist Society attorneys. Her Trump rulings have become quick and timely for Trump and also predictable.
In fact, Judge Cannon’s ham-handed favorable Trump rulings have actually exposed her weakness as a legitimate Federal judge and have opened the opportunity to not only hold her accountable, but to also tie her to CJ Roberts through the Federalist Society attorneys working closing with Calabresi and Leo and, therefore, hold Roberts accountable.
Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch are lost causes. They are diehard supporters and beneficiaries of Leo and Calabresi’s Federalist Society money and influence. Kavanaugh, too.
Roberts and Coney Barrett, however, appear to have a bit more concern about their legacy and how their rulings could destroy the country. One can only hope that’s the case.
Great post and very accurate, thanks.
Am working my way through “Opus” by Gareth Gore and just getting to part that ties in Opus Dei to Leonard Leo, Justice Roberts and other well-worn characters from that group (Alito, Thomas, Barr, plenty more). A fair synthesis is that corruption is a means to an end for a highly-motivated, conservative Catholic agenda. And there are plenty of collateral beneficiaries, including Trump and the usual suspects in tech, who have their own plans for a de-regulated environment. It’s a political alliance, and a powerful one at that.
Re Cannon
Roberts in his end of year report made an especial reference to Cannon, whom it seems is the one Judge he particularly wanted to take under his protective wing, and call out critiques of her as being, according to him, unjustifiable attacks, indeed intimidation, which strikes at the heart of the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
It is notable that Roberts called out as intimidation, entirely justified and reasoned and reasonable criticism of Cannon. It is also noticeable that Roberts at the same time avoided any mention of truly egregious attacks on judges, such as those by Trump and inspired by Trump.
This is a deliberate choice by Roberts, who is too clever not to realise that he is making such choices and that his choices will be noted and will have consequences.
Roberts is also too clever to be unaware of the kerfuffle over Judge Edith Jones (5th Cir Appeals) unwarranted attack on Steve Vladek at a Fed Soc National Convention in November, at a panel discussing “The Continued Independence of the Judiciary” at a panel ‘moderated’ by Judge James Ho (5th Cir Appeals)
https://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2024/11/steve-vladeks-admirable-response-to-judge-edith-jones.html
Amongst other things Judge Jones accused Vladek of being responsible for inspiring death threats she claimed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk had experienced, because Vladek had criticised judge shopping.
The panel discussion in its entirety is here.
https://www.youtube.com/live/-DBl0vUV0ak
There is no doubt that Roberts is concerned in reality with defending not the independence of an impartial judiciary,
but the independence of, and freedom from criticism for a reactionary partisan judiciary, and he makes his choices accordingly.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2024year-endreport.pdf
Robert’s end of year report.
I should make clear that I took para 2 on p7/15 to be a reference to Cannon. Robert’s claims that criticism of this judge (unnamed) and calls for impeachment over the handling of a high profile case was intimidation.
Clearly refers to Cannon, and calls for impeachment is not intimidation IMHO.
Liz Dye has a similar message today:
Merchan subtweets John Roberts ahead of Trump’s sentencing
The chief justice thinks intimidating judges is bad — some of the time. https://www.publicnotice.co/p/merchan-trump-sentencing-new-york-roberts
Liz Dye Jan 08, 2025
And the levels of vituperation directed to Merchan is extremely well documented and on the public record because of a filing by the Manhattan DA office documenting it.
I think by now in should be obvious (at least to me) that CJ Roberts actually does not care one whit about his legacy and is smirking while justifying rulings destroying American democracy. That pretend concern is (again IMHO) what he believes is a clever smokescreen to hide his true agenda, enabling (even legalizing!) corruption, as stated by others, and advancing Christofascism as envisioned by Opus Dei.
Excellent post. Thank you.
Isn’t corruption the natural end piece of an unbridled wild west style quest for profits?
Either/or/both?
It’s a chicken/egg question and a logical stalemate.
No stalemate: Science will confirm, the egg came 1st; there was no chicken before the egg hatched it. So corruption is hatched from the quest for profits.
Going in circles trying to figure out why? And I know whying is dying sometimes. John Roberts seemed to have “some” intelligence and reasoning. I didn’t agree but could see how fear created citizens united. It did not seem evil. Just irrational.
Does he know he literally destroyed democracy? Is he drunk on greed? Or does he think he helped it? I can’t see any path that lets me believe that he just doesn’t know what he has done.
One difference between the DV situation narcissist brain wash and with whatever is going on here is that the person living with dv fears the authoritarian/malignant narcissist. They collude out of self preservation.
They may believe they love them but by the time they come to therapy they hate them and love them. Both.
They feel the narcissists feelings and think like them in some ways. Because they have to, to be safe. Collusion with the narcissist is required.
But they know on some level that the behaviors, the violence, the name calling and abuse are wrong.
It’s so hard to understand these people who start out seeing the behavior, knowing it’s wrong but then flip. With Roberts I can’t figure out if he’s a full throated psychopath. Not all of Hitlers followers were psychopaths. But many were.
So many smart educated people doing harm, joining forces with evil, it boggles the mind.
The rationale for these rulings are rooted in either blindness or intentionally to destroy. Is he intentionally evil? Or just blindly codependent and colluding? I don’t know why it matters? The results are the same.
And this blindness has existed since the inception of democracy. I guess when democracy ruled there was at least a glimmer of hope that a pathway to justice existed. That the sadism would not always be sanctioned.
Martyrdom seems the only path left to live in morals against violence. Either join them or be punished. Or pretend. Demoralizing and dangerous.
It’s easier to influence a colluder/codependent than a psychopath. I guess that’s why I am so curious.
Perhaps I’m dense, but had to look up DV and see definition as domestic violence to comprehend your post. Putting this here just in case anyone else didn’t immediately get what was meant.
You’re kind, but not dense. The analogies and use of metrics for normal psychology do not hold.
Thank you.
My best guess at John Roberts’ psychology is that he thinks he knows right from wrong better than most, if not all, Americans. Not the law – right from wrong. He thinks America is on the wrong track morally, and he’s out to reverse that. He voted against Obergefell for example.
He’s just calling balls and strikes as I think he once said, lol. Such a perfect metaphor. Anyone who has ever watched a baseball game knows what an arbitrary and subjective concept a strike zone is. But he’s been high on his own supply for so long that he actually believes this makes the point he thinks it does and not the opposite.
Roberts’ use of that plate-umpire analogy always struck me as emblematic of what I used to consider his disingenuousness. Now it looks more like cowardice. He must know that Alito (more than Thomas) believed himself the rightful heir to the Chief’s seat, yet Roberts has never taken any positive step to make this the Roberts Court, and not the Alito (or Thomas) Court.
Yeah, I’m just the umpire, he might say. Well, he’d never get to call a World Series game, because that takes leadership. Which Roberts lacks, in spades.
I have said for some years, now, that a major problem is some people coming to believe their own legend.
My wife is a reformed Catholic and we attended Catholic service for a while until all the corruption and child issues came to light.
I can easily see the corrupt 6 as doing the bidding of a theocratic morality taught in Catholicism. Too many cannot honor the separation of church and state of our 1A Constitution. The abortion issue is just one of their spiteful platforms of hating on others. They’re now working the Catholic “no birth control” issue – albeit in the quiet for the moment. They have created legalism to deny the Jewish faith their spiritual journey under Dobbs.
Roberts, plus 5, are Theocracy in a robe.
P.S., I have racked my brains for the last 10 years trying to figure how to hold accountable these miscreants of justice per our Constitution. I continually look for suggestions on meaningful action that doesn’t get steam rolled.
Roberts, the other justices, appear to be reasonable, but how they abandon “sacred norms” of American life, a woman’s bodily autonomy, the regulatory state, the President isn’t a dictator. Who knows what’s normal? Does the sun rise in the East? Are we free people seeking enlightenment. Is society hopelessly wracked by sin? Would God smite us? Maybe the role of government is inquisition and purification. Maybe the individual is hopelessly sinful, and so the state must try to achieve grace.
Whatever is going on in the minds of conservative justices, it shares something Marxist Leninism in that the way individuals relate to government is changing, and we are losing previous norms on individualism, rights. Those are now undergoing creative destruction. Otherwise how is there freedom? What’s right will be what wins, so power is asking them to worship it, and they are obeying.
The GOP is behaving as a fascist cult, and everyone agrees except for them only in secret with each other. It has Dear Leader animus in that Roberts isn’t “obeying” Trump, but he’s expressing faith in a kind of totalitarian vision. A cell may become a tumor or enter senescence. Similarly, fascism is a profound change in our social system which may not be reversible, making it more difficult to rely on previous norms, institutions, and attributions.
I think you underestimate John Roberts by a wide margin. Like Alito and Thomas, he’s been at this for decades; he’s just not as obvious as they are, which allows him to go under the radar or appear more reasonable.
He and his brethren are creating the world they want. They are living in their first book of Genesis. If they fail to use the opportunities Trump and division create, they fail God. But it’s not fear that motivates them. It’s desire.
If only they believed Genesis Chapter 1 where God’s first request to man was to ensure that all species to be fruitful and multiply. Catholics are never taught or discuss Gen 1 and the evangelicals only talk about one verse, Gen 1:28. If the Catholics and the Evangelicals tried to honor God’s first request, we would be living in a totally different world, one where they would advocate for the 30/30 plan.
If they actually took Genesis seriously they would also be advocating for the end of the war on naturally occurring plants as Genesis 1:29 & 1:30 opines that they are for all humans to consume as they see fit.
Catholics do not study the Bible, they do not need too as they are members of the only true church on the planet. I do not say that statement lightly as it is something I finally get some of them to say this out loud when I questioned their faith. The sad part is that many of these believers were part of my Geology class that made big bank by “scouring the earth for hydrocarbons”.
Oh, Dominionists like Roberts and Leo STRONGLY believe in the “be fruitful and multiply” verse of Genesis…
It’s just that they read it as “God orders you to rule over all things, for as true believers you are better than everyone else”.
I’m glad the conversation turned to the Supreme Court’s favored religion. They want what their hearts want (and lo and behold it’s exactly what their god wants too, big coincidence!). And they lust after destroying everything and everyone that they believe stand in the way of getting what they covet.
They thought after Dobbs, everyone would shrug and say ‘well I guess that’s settled.’ And they think we will all shrug as democracy completely falls to their zealotry. But like after Dobbs most in the country will rise up in opposition to them (Otherwise the churches would be packed to their rafters instead of growing more and more empty every month). And organized religion will be the ones to take the biggest hit in the very end.
I think they fail to learn from history, thus leading them to repeat it. Perhaps a good book on the French Revolution and its aftermath would be recommended reading.
It’s almost too beautiful. We should talk about desire. Is it love? The magic that kills? Something.
I have those relatives. I have been watching it for some time.
I don’t think I’m giving anything away about “Conclave” by noting the dominant themes were power and truth. Tied up w corruption. It was something.
Chief Justice Roberts has been and remains the bell cow that ensures and allows directional movement by the otherwise chaotic mass of thuggery that has supplanted what was once an organized political party.
This piece is a clarion, setting out what has to become central within anyone’s framing of all that will begin to unfold starting January 20.
IDK but SCOTUS sur3e is acting weird. They granted Trump’s request to review his NY State convictions. This relief beyond extraordinary belief. Trump has no legal justification for his appeal OTHER than he knows/expects SCOTUS to help him.
Discouraging…
FYI, current status from Katie Buehler. Note it is encouraging that this is in the purview of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“UPDATE: #SCOTUS Justice Sonia Sotomayor asks New York DA to respond to Trump’s application by 10 a.m. tomorrow (Jan. 9).”
https://x.com/bykatiebuehler/status/1876996523176718384
Notice the advantage afforded to the ultra wealthy in legal circumstances. While the average person has to accept the legal help he can afford and its results, those who can afford the needed lawyer accomplices can largely buy the delay and the law the prefer. Roberts understands his position in this hierarchy as do many in the legal community. Why he[p those who can’t help you.
Edward Abbey – “There is no force more potent in the modern world than stupidity fueled by greed”
You have to be old like me to understand how radical Roberts’ opinion on immunity is.
In the 70s, Nixon said that when a president does something, it means it’s not illegal. Everyone thought that was uproariously funny at the time. All the serious pundits and establishment types gently explained that no one, not even the President, is above the law. And that’s what everyone understand for about 50 years after that.
Robert told us otherwise. But as the dissenters pointed out, there is absolutely no support for presidential immunity in the text of the Constitution. None, zero. For a bunch of justices who claim to be textualists, it’s quite a thing to “find” this new right within Article II. Not that it matters – consistency is only a thing when it’s convenient – but it also undermines the criticism of Roe, et. al., as not being based in the language of the Constitution.
Roberts want us to think he’s a moderate and an institutionalist. I think it’s more likely he’ll be remembered as the guy who wrote the opinion that undermined our republic.
I’m somewhat old? I don’t think it requires being old. No one expected that bullshit from the court.
I remember the discussions online when he was still a nominee, and it was being pointed out that he wasn’t going to be that good.
I’d say that John Roberts is about as convincing as Nixon in this infamous clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M
Richard Nixon – “I’m not a crook”
So, we should “Welfare Queen” this? The hazard here is that GOP is adept at hijacking messages, so what a GOP response would look like needs to be carefully considered. See also “Fake News” and “Woke”. Flogging a minor incidence of something or other until it’s a major thing is their magic power, and it works. Can we do that without it backfiring on us?
I wish voters across the board cared about this as much as I do. I don’t think they do.
If you want people to understand it, you’d have to approach it from a “President as King ” angle, and make it into some comical thing like King George from Hamilton. But I’m still not sure it can compete with the price of eggs.
MAGA actually LIKES the “President as King” idea, and I’m not sure there isn’t a sizable majority that isn’t at least “President as King” curious. I am massively alarmed to learn that Latino voters are on board with the prosperity gospel, because that’s where that ultimately leads to.
For an target, I think corruption is about as good as it gets, especially considering the vast scope of corruption, as, for example revealed by the Panama/Paradise Papers. If we catch a Biden or a Bono in the nets, I won’t shed a tear. The fact is the entire wealth class is corrupt and they are our enemy.
Whatever the target, though, the important part of the message as I hear it is to stop just focusing on trump. He can absorb whatever you throw at him. It was a mistake Dems made in the J6 cmmt and political campaigns to spare the gop as a whole, corrupt org.
I’d also like to see our side go after dominionists with the same vigor fascists go after trans people, but I’m not holding my breath that we have the courage or skill.
Technically, when you adopt your enemy’s tactics you lose the distinction between you and the enemy. However, barring some miraculous save, I smell revolution in the air. And while the intentions may be good, revolutions tend to be bloody, indiscriminate clubs in action. The resolution of our current situation is likely way down a long and pain-filled road.
Most Trump supporters outside of political circles don’t really know who John Roberts is and don’t feel any loyalty or need to defend him as they do their Dear Leader. If anything, they may even have some residual deep-memory resentment toward the Supreme Court for earlier, pre-Roberts decisions.
I am old enough to remember “Impeach Earl Warren” signs in the South (although as a child, I had no idea who Earl Warren was). And sadly, I recall very recently seeing a large billboard saying “Democrats Hate You” on a major road in the outskirts of Atlanta. That sort of low-level, high outrage campaign can have an impact on the “poorly educated” where reasoned opinion pieces or denunciations from congressional Democrats do not. Crude, possibly misleading, but effective.
i qualify as an old and a geek. i have the Iran-Contra hearings on VHS that i taped while at work so i could watch them for myself i wasn’t far out of HS but i knew i needed to inform myself.
The GOP is still using the same tactics.
Some of my family live in a small Indiana town, and the biggest billboards along the two main roads into and out of the town still have their 2024 election message:
Democrats = weak
Republicans = strong
Nothing will be fool proof. Something personal needs to be taken away in order for most to stand up. Like what’s happened after Dobbs. It will happen again though. Taking things away is what its all about right now.
The current admin has a few days to go.
Surely they’ve got brains that can figure out how to cripple this BS.
This corruption must be crippled before the 20th.
Are the Dems going to let republicans outsmart them and allow the US to become a shithole country?
These republicans didn’t even want the Gaetz crime report to be released.
Sure some of them have the brains, but none have the guts.
Joe Biden just said in an interview that he would have won if he had stayed in the race. Then he proudly offered that Trump praised the job he did in office. This made me feel ill.
Technical request. Can you add an easy way to repost on Bluesky? I only see FB, X, WhatsApp and email. Thanks
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has a good post on BlueSky on the recent refusal of the Judicial Conference to “refer” Clarence Thomas to the AG. Maybe a multi-pronged approach would help.
https://bsky.app/profile/whitehouse.senate.gov/post/3lfapp2dpps2u
Dahlia Lathwick and Mark Joseph Stern on the refusal of the Judicial Council to consider Clarence Thomas’s violations of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/01/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-got-away-with-it.html
(If you get stopped by a paywall, try https://archive.ph/TarGg).
Mark Joseph Stern: Let’s be clear about what the Judicial Conference is doing here: It’s gutting the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, a federal statute that we had thought was legitimate and enforceable until now. This statute expressly gives the Judicial Conference the power to make these referrals over alleged law-breaking among federal judges to the Justice Department for investigation and potential penalties.
The Supreme Court has kicked the slats out from under the Constitution by making the Presidency above the law and now the Judicial Conference has kicked more slats out by avoiding their responsibility to hold a Supreme Court Justice accountable. Now both the Presidency and the Supreme Court are above and beyond the law.
We don’t have equal justice any more and, perhaps, neither democracy or a republic as well.
I’d appreciate more knowledgeable people than I am to dig a little deeper into the implications of this judicial lawlessness.
We have never had equal justice, just aspirations. The Roberts court has shown (shorn) what power they had.
Now we don’t even have the aspirations. Unequal justice is codified the the present law, for whatever that means.
But you’re right, in practice, de facto, ’twas ever thus. Now it’s de jure too and it might be good to keep that change in mind.
And of course, the comments are mostly blaming the DEMS for this, and grousing that the Repubs are now above the law…
My guess is that highlighting Roberts’ responsibility in enabling coming Trump catastrophes will evolve/devolve into revived Dem talk of expanding the Court. GOP and Fox will grab this like a bone and run in any direction that takes the heat of Roberts and will dump it into the partisan talk show-podcast sewer.
It’s good. Framing is more important than anything right now..
Define the enemy. Keep it simple. Repeat repeat repeat. Stay ON message.
The way to do this would be to have a weekly “corruption report” on the Trump admin. It goes out to everybody on the Never-Trump side of the aisle.
A legal question for the lawyers or Marcy:
Would a pardon of Nauta and D’Oliviera from Biden automatically void any hold on the documents report from Jack Smith?
Probably too clever by half. Why not just pardon Trump while he’s at it?
As 200Toros notes below, a far simpler move would be to drop the cases against them, with prejudice if necessary.
Thank you. Makes sense.
Which shouldn’t be necessary. Cannon should have dismissed them too. Or did she not believe her own misreading of the SC appointment statute?
Not to be Debbie Downer but I think y’all are loony if you think Roberts will ever be held accountable for anything in any way. We can hammer on all the things repeatedly for the next 50 years (and I will), just like we have with Trump, and look where that’s gotten us. For at least the next 4 years there won’t even be any real pressure from either of the other 2 branches. Oh the Democrats may holler about this and that, but it’ll go nowhere. And the press? Lol, not a chance. And we already know Roberts doesn’t give two shits what the people think anyway.
And then, in 2026 when Durbin runs again at the age of 82 (it’s what they do) and thereafter remains ranking member on the JC, he’ll continue to “look very hard at” and “very seriously consider” changes to the SCOTUS and the judiciary in general, and then nothing will happen because he doesn’t have the cajones. Much like whoever the next Democratic president might be. Probably Connolly, because he’s never been president before.
Anyway, to quote a famous fictional American, “Hallelujah! Holy Shit! Where’s the Tylenol?”
Did you have anything constructive to offer? No?
That’s the real problem — lack of constructive action across the voting left.
I’ve run for and held local elected offices. I’m active in our local Democratic institutions. I’m certain I do more than the average person, but perhaps less than whatever the imaginary bar for an acceptable participation level is. Apologies if I’m not on board with believing something that has no chance of happening will happen.
If you’re so active why do you think coming here and dumping your emotional burden is an effective measure in line with Marcy’s call for accountability?
What do you think your 194 words of “Debbie Downer” does in this thread — does it motivate anyone to positive, constructive action? Or is it just demoralizatsiya?
You opened your comment acknowledging you were going to be a downer; if you ever feel the urge to be that again here, don’t. We don’t have time for it.
This post argues that 1). We need to shift our focus from Trump, bc hammering Trump only reinforces polarization and 2) we need to define an enemy regardless of whether that enemy himself can be held accountable.
RealAlexi at 4:35 – Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare has a similar idea on how to release the stolen docs portion:
In real world terms, not releasing the report while the litigation is pending means not releasing it all. The reason is that Trump will presumably pardon Nauta and De Oliveira or order their cases dismissed. So the cases won’t be pending for long, and the decision on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s part to hold the report to protect the integrity of the cases almost certainly will not serve to protect them in practice.
It likely will, however, mean that the public never sees the report in question. A Justice Department run by Pam Bondi and Trump’s former lawyers, after all, will have no interest in then releasing the remaining portions of Smith’s report.
…in my opinion, the Justice Department would do well to drop the cases against Nauta and De Oliveira in order to free itself up to release the report. This would mean, in practice, that Trump’s co-defendants would be free from criminal process a few days earlier than they would if the case remains pending until pardons or Bondi make it go away. The flip side, however, is that proceeding in this fashion would avert a lengthy struggle to enable transparency vis a vis the report.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation–ending-the-trump-cases-the-right-way
Given that Trump will be president in 12 days, and that, if convicted, Nauta and De Oliveira will never see the inside of a prison cell, dropping the cases against them in exchange for releasing a fuller report from Jack Smith seems an acceptable compromise. But it’s time to get cracking.
That doesn’t eliminate the legal ambiguity until the 11th C decides that Aileen Cannon is a dope, bc she effectively said you need to void everything from the day Jack Smith was appointed.
Thank you. Dropping the cases would be easier (I guess) than a pardon. I hadn’t thought of that. Makes a lot more sense.
One point about the pardon is that my understanding of the pardon would be that if they accepted they couldn’t plead the 5th if any of this ended up back in the courts.
But it really doesn’t matter because under a Trump A.G. it’s just all going to disappear.
Right on the money, Dr. Wheeler! I love this column. I suggest calling it the Nuremberg Project. Progressives and defenders of democracy need to be documenting, videotaping, recording and cataloguing all of the criminality and misdeeds of not only Trump, but Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, et al. John Roberts IS to blame, along with Mitch McConnell and the 43 Republican Senators who let an obviously guilty man go free of the inciting an insurrection charge in the second impeachment. That would have driven a stake through the heart of this vile monster, once and for all!
Agree, x 1000.
They wanted to keep their hands clean for the voters and their job while losing American jurisprudence in the end. This cabal can never be forgiven for their bigoted, self-benighted view of how they’d like America to be of power and corruption to the few.
In other court news, Judge Otis Wright sentenced Alexander Smirnov to 6 years in prison.
I was able to attend this hearing today.
To date, my only sentencing hearing I’ve ever attended, so I don’t have a comparison. But I would still wager this one was one of the more bizarre ones out there, lol.
Was Judge Wright irritated?
Extremely.
He was like, you guys are arguing 36-47 months, the prosecutors are arguing 46-57 months. But I don’t really care, I’m going with something way different, only bound by the terms.
And: yeah, yeah, you are arguing he served as a CHS for patriotism, whatever, I’ve seen a lot of informants and they are all trading access as a get out of jail card.
And when the defendant said he would like to make his statement in camera, the judge declined. Then the defendant offered to read his letter. The attorney said he gave support to the defendant writing the letter. The judge said he likes it when defendants write their own letters. The defendant then decided not to make any statements.
The judge was like, yeah, that’s what I thought.
A few other things that came across so odd.
This article leaves out a good quote from Judge Wright after Chesnoff compared Smirnov to Hunter Biden.
Chesnoff: [quote from article]: “The president’s son got away with it,” Chesnoff told the judge. “It doesn’t seem fair to the public at large that one guy gets away and the other guy is left holding the bag.”
Wright: wait, are you claiming Hunter Biden lied to his FBI handler? [Paraphrasing from memory, but said scarcastically]
https://www.courthousenews.com/fbi-informant-who-planted-misinformation-about-joe-and-hunter-biden-gets-6-years-prison/
Here’s Meghann Cuniff’s report. Note she asked Wise and Hines about Smirnov’s Russian ties but they didn’t respond.
I met Megan and was standing outside the courthouse with her when she asked that question.
Wise and Hines had just exited, wearing street clothes, giant smiles, looked like they just won the super bowl and headed to Disneyland.
I then asked them a couple questions.
Me: Are you working on a report? Are you writing a report?
Wise: no comment
Me: in Delaware, you buried the FBI validation report of Hunter’s laptop. Will you include this in the final report?
Hines: no comment
I was shocked only 3 reporters there. Megan, a young Las Vegas Journal reporter, the courthouse News reporter. That’s it. No LA Times even.
Reported a half hour ago:
Trump speaks with Justice Alito amid push to halt criminal sentencing
Alito [SAYS HE] spoke to Trump to recommend an ex-clerk for a job in his administration.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-speaks-justice-alito-amid-push-halt-criminal/story?id=117386419 January 8, 2025, 5:38 PM
[Continuing directly]:
BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Sure.
“Liar Liar, Pants on Fire”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIh-g_kVvWo
He didn’t need to discuss anything, the mere fact of the phone call is all that is needed. There was no reason to get any input on this person, he clerked for Alito more than 10 years ago and worked in the Bill Barr Justice Dept during the Trump administration. It was just a ruse to make the phone call to Alito to make sure he toes the line. Classic abuser behavior.
Here are 2 bios for
William Ranney Levi
(Son of David F Levi , former Dean of Duke Law School , and US District judge)
Fed Soc
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/william-levi
Legistorm
https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/234854/William_Ranney_Levi.html
The latter notes
Executive Office of the President (2018)
Donald John Trump
Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
But that was short lived, from in 2018 to March 2020 he was counsellor to AG at DoJ for Sessions Rosenstein
Whittaker
Barr
March 2020 he became Barr’s Chief of staff leaving Dec 2020
He went back to Sidley Austin
Why does Trump need to speak to Alito about someone who clerked for him in 2011/12, unless it’s for a Judicial appointment
But it seems deeply weird.
Oh, so suddenly they are vetting?
OMG…it’s THAT will Levi!
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3lfbbgaauj22q
January 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Here’s a good post:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/06/06/how-to-think-about-the-hunter-biden-laptop/
BARR responded: “Super”
“We spoke only about my former law clerk’s interest in working for his Majesty’s Palace Guard,” said Justice Samuel Alito to the reporter, in his patient headmaster’s voice.
“Neither of us raised any of the 23.7 personal matters he has that are about to come before the Court within the next 191.3 days. Nor did we discuss my impending retirement, or the one person in the world who could competently replace me.
“I deeply resent your implication that I have a conflict between my exercise of power and my adherence to the rules of law and judicial ethics. I never adhere to either.”
/s
Thanks for that, earl–I needed to spit out some coffee this morning!
lol how dare you impugn my stellar reputation by suggesting this oddly timed phone call was blatant corruption, no, you see, it was just about old fashioned cronyism. Good day sir!
Re “This Oddly Timed Phone Call “
Should read “THESE oddly timed PHONE CALLS”
Alito has revealed there were 2 people who called him regarding the subject at issue in the calls
And NOBODY believes the lie the subject was a job reference for LEVI
Levi is an insider and fixer.
This Article from 2020 fleshes out Levi’s connections backers and experience https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2020/12/10/barrs-chief-of-staff-william-levi-always-on-the-scene-leaves-doj/?slreturn=2025010941322
“Always on scene”
Indeed it is being on scene, with his wealth of connections, in addition to his considerable legal skills is what makes Levi valuable to insiders in trouble, no doubt helpful in the Crisis Management aspect of his skill set mentioned on his partner page for Sidley Austin.
When Barr was in trouble before the Judiciary Committee June 2020
Donald Ayer, former DAG under George H.W. Bush administration, testified
“[Barr is ]greatest threat in my lifetime to our rule of law and public trust in it.”
And “[Barr has mounted an] attack on Edward Levi’s [post Watergate reforming AG ] vision and reforms, indeed on the very idea that no person is above the law”
Mike Mukasey AG under GW Bush testified defending Barr, and said
“So far as the claim that William Barr’s service is somehow a desecration of Edward Levi’s service, I should point out that Edward Levi’s portrait hangs where it hung when I was attorney general, and that Edward Levi’s grandson serves proudly as attorney general’s Barr’s chief of staff,”
NYT has an article about this as well:
Trump and Alito, two men who disdain ethical constraints, chatted on Tuesday The next day, Trump asked the Supreme Court to stop his New York criminal sentencing — and to give presidents-elect complete immunity. https://www.lawdork.com/p/trump-and-alito-two-men-who-disdain
Chris Geidner Jan 09, 2025
Steve Vladeck [most of this is behind a paywall]:
https://bsky.app/profile/stevevladeck.bsky.social/post/3lfcoqajpd22r
January 9, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Thank you, harpie! I’m so sick of reading about all this Trumprot and he’s not even in office yet. Oh well, I can go on. I must go on.
You are truly doing (some) God’s work.
This got a whole lot more relevant a hell of a lot faster than I expected.
What’s missing from this proposal are two key requirements:
1. That you, Marcy Wheeler, are in an accountability relationship with John Roberts. You are not, except in the most tenuous sense, as one of 340 million people who have the same citizen:Justice relationship. The Chief Justice is in an accountability relationship with the US Senate, which alone has the ability and the authority to impeach him.
2. An accountability standard of any kind. “Looks like corruption to me” is not sufficient. There must be a vetted, fully understandable, verifiable standard to impose accountability, even in the most rigorous accountability relationships.
LOL. The line for tethering high horses starts on the right, and goes all the way over there.
Oh, so very helpful your feedback is.
Not.
This is why we (Democrats) can’t have nice things.
You are still thinking about “official” channels for communicating opprobrium. But even if there were senators with the will to demand accountability, it wouldn’t work if those who are accountable feel no shame.
That’s why a grass-roots type campaign, calling out Roberts and repeatedly condemning “judicial corruption” and showing how it impacts Everyman, and especially Everywoman, makes more sense to me. “John Roberts takes away your rights and gives them to Big Money! Stop the corrupt Supreme Court from stealing your rights! Tell your senators that you want real Justice, not corrupt justices!” That sort of thing.
Yes. And if you’ve ever tried to register anything like a complaint at SCOTUS, you’ll have discovered that it is all but impossible. That institution has rendered itself impermeable to criticism from us mere mortals.
Seriously–go to the website and check it out. I’ve almost never experienced more paternalistic exclusionism, and I went to Princeton in the 1970s.
Fred, are you suggesting we all wait and allow the Roberts and the Trump admin to self report their own corruption?
As for accountability, it must begin from the ground up not the top down when dealing with those at the very pinnacle of Gov. We saw more than enough Investigator Generals get axed the last time these criminals held office and this time it’s going to be worse.
That means Marcy and the rest of us call it out when we see it and from there it travels through the media bloodstream to the House and Senate. etc etc etc and when nothing happens we use it to leverage the election of Reps who’ll hold these corrupt buffoons accountable.
We also need a media ecosystem to transmit the messages from the masses. Until they feel the pain/shame to change – they won’t. Addiction to power and money is most hardest to break – no matter the consequences.
This forum is great to a small audience. Big money has been buying every large media messaging (except maybe Bluesky, some local outfits).
We are losing because money is the biggest shouting megaphone drowning any dissent in the best Goebbels communication streams. Normal people are losing the plot to society under this cloud of smoke filled corruption.
I don’t know the resources to fix – but, we have to find a way to cut the propaganda, PRAVDA 2.0 flooded zone. Bannon 24/7 flood is their way. Still looking for the how?
The means to transmit a voice or voices from the masses, requires effective organization. I was promoting the idea of a “Peoples’ Congress” organized at local levels, to bring the “mobilized” of all causes together to determine our agreed upon focus in order to transmit that/those message/s to our elected representatives in this urgent time.
The mobilization against the “Vietnam War” was so much more vast and sustained than anything recently seen, including the mobilization against the invasion of Iraq.
A generation of young people saw 500 soldiers killed each week during the height of it. There was Mai Lai. The Chicago 7, Judge Hoffman, Bobby Seale gagged in court. Etc.
Protesting and organizing may have an essential relationship, but we need unity. In my experience, we all have a hill to die on, keeping us from effectively building a larger or mass movement. The situation in Gaza has not reached the size.
How do we effect a successful resistance? A clear enemy, as Marcy points out, is needed. Can Roberts be shamed? Clearly, he is building a shield. What will be an effective course for us?
The legitimacy of the US Senate and therefore any hope of impeachment was corrupted in 1913 with the passage of the 17th Amendment. I continue to find it interesting that many ignore what impact that had on the Republic. We lost a check on Federal Power when the Governors were stripped of this State power.
The only good reason that was ever given to pass the 17th Amendment was “State Corruption” which made it easier to elect a compliant person when it became popular elections. In one fell swoop Federalism stomped on State’s Rights corrupting our Constitution in one of the most significant ways with most today not batting an eye and then they let it pass as “truth” that this Senate is the same as it has always been, nothing is further from the truth.
For a person to navigate to a Senate nomination in a State would have maintained much more local journalism as well as scrutiny over time. I would rather have 50 laboratories of corruption as that makes it harder for the rich to buy the Senate like they do the House.
Anyone arguing that Senate Impeachment power is a legitimate check on the Judiciary or the President after 1913 is a ludicrous position in my humble opinion.
Ohio, NC, FL, TN +
Disagree. “Laboratories in autocracy”, David Pepper shows the 17th is ignored just like everything else the gop touch – they don’t care for any accountability. They are the corruption and don’t care as long as the billionaires keep feeding them. Their hate of others not like them in collusion precedes them.
“Justice Sonia Sotomayor asks New York DA to respond to Trump’s application by 10 a.m. tomorrow (Jan. 9).”
Have any of the court-watchers offered up an opinion as to what’s going on here? Sotomayor isn’t stupid, so she probably saw this ridiculous request coming. Does she expect the whole Court to demand a vote that this be considered by the whole Court? If so, could she have taken this up in order to shit-kick it to the sun with a written opinion attached to make sure that the other Justices have to own this if they pick it up and then decide to slow walk it?
So far, this is just routine. Justice Sotomayor is responsible for the initial handling whatever comes across her desk from the area of the country that includes the 2nd Circuit. There are standard protocols she will comply with.
For starters, she’s asked the DoJ to respond to Trump’s bullshit by Thursday at 10.00 am. She can act on it individually or pass it to Roberts and the full Court. Since she’s not Alito or Thomas, she’s unlikely to decide the question herself, or wait weeks to pass it up the chain. But nothing says she has to do that within an hour of getting the DoJ’s response.
Among my recent activities, I have been spending a lot of time with friends and comrades. I hear the same message, we have to stick together, work together, build community.
In the context of the excellent post and commentary/information, we need to identify good avenues to build mass support. I thought denial of healthcare/costs/deaths was a good opening. Clearly the courts are another. Money as speech. Climate change/extinction. Others.
I received an email from Public Citizen that I thought laid out a good starting strategy. I know others are proposing similar. After waxing enthusiastic about hope, they offered this:
“Since the moment Donald Trump was declared the victor in the presidential race, Public Citizen has been been charging forward to activate and build out far-reaching, impactful plans that will limit the damage he and his cronies can inflict upon millions of Americans, our democracy, our planet, and everyone on it.
Our plan for confronting Trump focuses on three key areas:
1. Mobilizing the American people against Trump’s authoritarian actions.
2. Exposing the conflicts of interest and systemic corruption within MAGA.
3. Litigating against Trump’s cruel and illegal agenda.”
They went on to list the various actions they are taking in these areas.
We need to have some communication consortiums, some centralized distribution. We need ways to engage more people. Mobilization is not organization. Mobilization is just the first step. We need to get ready to move. Like a fire is coming. It is up to us.
Your comment has brought to mind this organization.
https://www.commoncause.org/articles/common-cause-wrapped-2024/ – John Roberts was silent as an obelisk throughout the righteous Senate impeachment hearing of Donald Trump.
The MAGAts spark and stoke division with old fascist tropes with Crusades fervor and Robber Baron strategies, offering a real smorgasbord of civic ruination to the US and the world.
Freedom-loving people who enjoy living in peace and harmony get lives extinguished for what plunder and waste of human and environmental resources and world-wide social capital? The misery and waste that lies ahead we shall unfortunately discover in due time.
The bipartisan democratic resistance must represent the United States now. We have the talent and the resources still.
To remove the blinders that cloak the Republican base and expose the doublespeak that has twisted their views, expose this administration for what it is every step of the way.
Talk to people who work on your home, for example.
They may often believe three things: Both sides are the same; Trump will not do the horrible things he threatens; and even if they did pay attention to the news, what they think doesn’t make a difference.
If we do our jobs in earnest, I really believe that once we open their minds and the blinders come off of more Republicans, we will see a third impeachment of Donald after mid-term elections.
The line for sparkle ponies starts on the left, but goes around the block.
I agree with the emphasis on corruption, which is broadly applicable and easy to understand. Along with giving legal cover for bribing government officials, equating money and “free speech,” and judging political gerrymandering as non-justiciable, Roberts near-complete endorsement of the unitary executive claims facilitates corruption on a massive scale. One of the main concerns for the framers of the Constitution was the potential for corruption in government, especially in the Senate and the Executive Branch. People generally aren’t moved by history lessons, but denouncing corruption is a long-standing American tradition.
What Roberts knows that no one else does is that on the back of the Constitution, if you use a lemon juice reagent and warm breath, you will see the invisible ink writing that says the Supreme Court justice is the real king..