I'm actually surprised that Kennedy signed with Scalia.
With the exception of Kennedy’s love for the gay agenda (last year’s DOMA opinion), he has been edging further to the right ever since the current pResisent took office.
Roberts on the other hand has been noticeably trending to the left.
Part of me wonders if his role in presiding over the FISA court has influenced him.
That is, he knows vastly more than most about how significant the internal spy network is and how those not in the good graces of our future dictator will be disposed of.
That’s just a theory. It’s also possible that he took his eye off the ball and is fighting to bring respect to the judiciary as opposed to fighting to uphold the Constitution.
I can’t help but wonder what the court would look like with Scalia or Thomas (or Alito) as chief.
Roberts would be much better as an associate.
It’s that pressure from the NYT and such on a young CJ and his legacy blah blah blah that led to the 0bamacare decision.
Strong leadership from someone like the three I mentioned would have given him the cover to vote the way he originally wanted to without the fear of headlines like “The Roberts Court Right Wing Activism”.
Lots of politics at play here.
Notice how Roberts joined the left (5-4) on the reasoning in the recess appointment case and the Abortion Buffer Zone case.
The media’s account of unanimity was either misleading or ignorant.
The judgements were technically unanimous, but the lasting precedent and meaning for lower courts in the future are unimpressive.
If Roberts goes against Hobby Lobby then he’s not much better than Suter.
We can only pray he hasn’t completely sold his soul.