Free Republic

In recent months, at least three major newspapers have carried columns attempting to push Chief Justice John Roberts into voting to uphold a grossly unconstitutional federal law. But their cheap distortions and Chicken Little yammering will fail. The chief justice will do his job, and the country will be better off for it. On Sept. 9, the U.S. Supreme Court reheard arguments in the landmark campaign finance and free speech case, Citizens United v. FEC. At issue in this case is whether the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) could ban documentaries about candidates when Election Day is approaching. This...

There's a new SCOTUS suit you want and need to know about...case 09-6777. I'll win and when I do? YOU CAN SUE SITTING OFFICERS FOR LIABILITY THUS DISSOLVE THEM AS THE US DEFAULTED VIA FAILING TO RESPOND TO A PRIOR SCOTUS SUIT ON 11/05/08, the day after the election, lol. Actual default is the 2000 election and BVG; legal default occurred on 11/05/09. I then appealed to Roberts directly on 11/20/09 and forced direct action thus I won on paper. Now all I am doing is acting to collect my award: Hearing in person aka winning in person. You can...

Archbishop Donald Wuerl talks with Chief Justice John Roberts after the Red Mass Washington D.C., Oct 5, 2009 / 10:40 am (CNA).- One day before the opening of the Supreme Court's next term, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at the 56th Annual "Red Mass," celebrated yesterday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington D.C. The Mass was attended by six Supreme Court justices.The Mass is an initiative of the John Carroll Society, a group of Catholic legal professionals, and has been held at the cathedral since...

With three new members in the past four years and the prospect of more change ahead, the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. commences this week what could be a transformative term. New Justice Sonia Sotomayor will receive the most attention, as President Obama's historic choice begins to reveal the judicial philosophy that remained largely cloaked during her confirmation hearings. And speculation will build about whether a retirement by one of the aging liberal justices will give Obama another opportunity to make his mark.

Americans cannot get any truth out of their government about anything, the economy included. Americans are being driven into the ground economically, with one million school children now homeless, while Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announces that the recession is over. The spin that masquerades as news is becoming more delusional. Consumer spending is 70% of the US economy. It is the driving force, and it has been shut down. Except for the super rich, there has been no growth in consumer incomes in the 21st century. Statistician John Williams of shadowstats.com reports that real household income has never recovered...

And all this time I thought it was something in the water.

As a former Marine, I know that the men and women of our armed forces, including those at Fort Leavenworth, are more than capable of securing these terrorists. In fact, they already secure them very well at Guantanamo. The real threat lies beyond the terrorists themselves. For places like Leavenworth, there is a virtual top 10 list of external threats ... 2. Security experts estimate that Fort Leavenworth would need to acquire 2,000 privately owned acres of land by eminent domain to establish a stand-off zone around the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, which is situated near the perimeter. Imagine the lawsuits,...

The death of Michael Jackson on Thursday recalled his brush a quarter century ago with an aide to President Ronald Reagan — John G. Roberts Jr., who would go on to become chief justice of the United States. Mr. Roberts, it appears, was not the King of Pop’s biggest fan in the White House. --SNIP-- [...] the White House was asked to contribute a letter from Mr. Reagan recognizing the pop singer’s work. --SNIP-- Mr. Roberts expressed acid disapproval in a June 22, 1984, memorandum to Mr. Fielding: I recognize that I am something of a vox clamans in terris...

Birth of an Obsession With her strong will, busy travel schedule and breathless blogging, Laguna Niguel dentist Orly Taitz has become the most controversial figure in the effort to prove that President Barack Obama is foreign-born Before she addressed the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on March 13, Dr. Orly Taitz thought about his son and her sons and nearly started to cry. This was after she had woken up at 3 a.m., headed to Kinko’s in Laguna Niguel, photocopied hundreds of pages, gotten on Interstate 5 heading south, answered questions on her cell phone...

Breaking on CNBC: USSC delays Chyrsler asset sale! Mourdock: USe of Tarp Funds in automotive industry was illegal Obama admin had urged USSC NOT to keep chrysler deal on hold

'He has used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak.' The following is from then-Sen. Barack Obama's floor statement explaining why he would vote against confirming Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (September 2005):

Imagine a world where ideology takes the place of truth and laws are rooted in dubious factoids from nowhere. That pretty much sums up the fact-challenged, hysteria-mongering domestic violence industry that is propped up by $1 billion of federal money each year. Industry ideologues are loathe to admit the fact, but they truly believe the cause of partner abuse is patriarchal oppression. Not convinced? Just take it on the authority of feminist Gloria Steinem who once made this randy claim, "The patriarchy requires violence or the subliminal threat of violence in order to maintain itself." In her now-famous PBS interview,...

WASHINGTON – Chief Justice John Roberts has granted the Obama administration's request to the Supreme Court to block the release of certain sex offenders who have completed their federal prison terms. The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., had earlier invalidated a law allowing the indefinite commitment of "sexually dangerous" prison inmates. Roberts, in an order Friday, says as many as 77 inmates can continue to be held at a prison in North Carolina at least until the high court decides whether to hear the administration's appeal of a ruling by the federal appeals court. ... "That would pose a...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. lied to Congress during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be open-minded about his judicial philosophy. "We got into a little jam with Roberts. Roberts didn't tell us the truth. At least [Justice Samuel A.] Alito told us who he was," Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said, comparing former President George W. Bush's two successful Supreme Court nominees. "We're stuck with those two young men," Mr. Reid said, though he added that Democrats hope to try to balance out the judiciary overall by "having some moderates in...

The U.S. Constitution requires that the President of the United States be a "Natural Born Citizen". A Natural Born Citizen is a person that is born on American soil to parents that are U.S. citizens. In protest of Barrack Obama's refusal to provide a birth certificate to the American citizens I am sending Chief Justice Roberts a copy of my birth certificate to make a point. Justice Roberts address is: CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ONE FIRST STREET N.E. WASHINGTON, DC 20543

Well before his 30th birthday, Tulsa native Jamie McDonald will have worked for one White House administration and in two branches of the federal government. Last year, he was working in the White House counsel's office. This summer, he will return to Washington, D.C., for the opportunity of a lifetime — being a clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

US Chief Justice Roberts to speak at UA Wednesday By Aaron Mackey Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.30.2009 advertisementU.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will deliver a free public talk at the UA law school next week, though seats to view the address are in short supply. Officials with the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law said the room where Roberts will speak as part of an annual lecture series is at capacity, and additional viewing rooms are filling, too....

Reports indicate that Vice-President Joe Biden called U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to apologize for his remark last week making fun of Roberts after his infamous flub of the Oath of Office when swearing-in President Barack Obama. Here is video of the remark Biden made last week, followed by news of the apology . . . . . I chided Biden last week for making the classless joke at Roberts' expense, so now I also praise Biden for doing the right thing and apologizing for it. No doubt, Chief Justice Roberts feels terrible about the mistake he made,...

Here is audio of President Barack Obama retaking the Presidential Oath of Office on January 21, 2009. He did so as a result of a flub that took place on Inauguration Day when Chief Justice John Roberts mixed up the words of the Oath, and Obama repeated it incorrectly. Roberts again administered the Oath at the White House on the evening of January 21, 2009. No video was allowed, but this audio has been released. . . . . (Listen to audio)

In golf, they call it a mulligan. A do-over. There's no formal name for what President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did last night. After flubbing his one role on Inauguration Day -- administering the oath of office to Obama -- Roberts traveled to the White House to re-administer the oath. Just to make sure. "We decided it was so much fun . . .," Obama joked while sitting on a couch in the Map Room. Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool reporters as Roberts donned his black robe. "Are you ready...

Once wasn't enough for The One. After Justice John Roberts butchered delivering the oath to President Barack Hussein Obama yesterday...he had to do it again...today...in the White House. Apparently several constitutional scholars, law abiding and deriding citizens that they are, advised the president he'd potentially suffer a legal challenge (from whom, Biden?) if he didn't do it right.

Here is video of Vice-President Joe Biden - the ultimate gaffemaster - taking a shot at Chief Justice John Roberts today about his mistake yesterday in administering the Oath of Office to Barack Obama. Biden was asked by Obama to swear-in White House staffers today at a ceremony, and before doing so, Biden cracked, "My memory is not as good as Chief Justice Roberts'." President Obama was obviously uncomfortable with Biden's remark, as you will notice he gently nudges Biden's elbow as if to say "move on Joe." Lest anyone has forgotten Joe Biden's many gaffes, here is one of...

The presidential oath of office should be re-administered to Barack Obama because of his flub during Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, legal experts say. Because of a mistake by Chief Justice John Roberts, Obama transposed one of the words in the oath. He should have said he will “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” but instead repeated Roberts’ cue and said he will “execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully.” Josh White of the Washington Post noted: “The presidential oath of office is required of a new president before he can execute his power, and...

Several constitutional lawyers said President Barack Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed. The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section One, which says the president "shall" take the oath "before he enteron the execution of his office." It was discussed during the Constitutional Convention. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully," at which point Obama paused quizzically, and then Roberts corrected himself, but then Obama repeated the words as Roberts initially said them. The oath reads: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office...

"Well, again, we're wondering here whether or not Barack Obama in fact is the president of the United States," Chris Wallace told Fox News viewers, well over an hour after Obama had taken the oath of office today. Fox News replayed the swearing-in moment when President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. each bobbled the words to the constitutional oath. "They had a kind of garbled oath," Wallace said. "It's just conceivable that this will end up going to the courts," Wallace speculated.

The first day of the Obama Administration didn't go very smoothly. One hopes this isn't some sort of bad omen. First, Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the Oath of Office. More . . .

Here is video of Barack Obama taking the Oath of Office to become the 44th President of the United States today. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath, but confused the words briefly at the beginning of the Oath, leaving an awkward moment for Obama. . . . . (watch video)

COMEDIAN Steve Martin once explained how to make a million dollars without paying taxes. First, you make a million dollars. Then, you don't pay taxes. If the IRS finds out, you explain: "I forgot." Then, if that's not enough, you say, "Well, excuuuse me!"  This approach was offered in jest, but these days it's looking pretty promising. Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner seems to be pulling it off in the tax arena even as I write this, and now the Supreme Court, in its just-released decision in Herring v. United States, has ruled that simple negligence by police - in...

The highest justice official in the land will knowingly use Abraham Lincoln's personal bible to stand before the world and swear in a President who is entirely unqualified for the position... Has Chief Justice Roberts considered the full implications of the action he will take on January 20, 2009? At this moment in history, one man has the power to stop this monumental fraud and uphold the Constitution. That man is Chief Justice John Roberts. He can and should refuse to swear Obama into office until such time that he has delivered proof of his compliance with Article II Section...

I heard John Roberts' angry question towards Palin's choice for her baby (born April 18 this year) questioning whether Sarah could take care of a baby with Down's Syndrome and also manage to be Vice President. This was echoed on TV (again voiced by democrat male reporter), and by several seminar-callers to radio shows on Friday afternoon. Several radio show hosts - most in-depth was Hugh Hewitt with two interviews with DS organizers - skewered John Roberts about his attitude, and his assumption that having a child "with special needs" (as he put it) would take too much time, that...

During the 9 a.m. EDT hour of “CNN Newsroom,” “American Morning” co-anchor John Roberts gave an analysis of Governor Sarah Palin during discussion of Senator John McCain's vice presidential choice. Roberts focused on Palin's lack of experience, saying that a prerequisite for the vice presidency should be the ability to step right into the office, especially because of McCain's age. Roberts stated: She's only been in office for a couple of years now, which really raises the experience issue here. [...] Now, she is a manager. She is the governor of a state. She does have limited experience, though. She's...

The Moronic PartyFirst Published 2008-08-12 Republicans are interested in prevailing over the ‘bad guys.’ The fact that the bad guys are Bush, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Perle, Billy Kristol, and other such is beyond the Republicans’ imagination, notes Paul Craig Roberts. Many years ago, during the 1970s if memory serves, neoconservative Irving Kristol, echoing John Stuart Mill, called his conservative party, the Republican Party, “the stupid party.” Kristol was referring to the Republican’s inability to compete on the policy front. Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan led the Republicans out of the wilderness, but now Republicans have reverted to the stupid party,...

WASHINGTON — Where have all the 5-to-4 decisions gone? And whatever happened to the “Kennedy Court”? A year ago at this time, the Supreme Court had decided 13 cases by votes of 5 to 4, out of 41 total decisions. That proved to be an accurate snapshot of a highly polarized term. By the time the court wrapped up its work five weeks later, a third of the cases — the highest proportion in years — had been decided by margins of a single vote. But so far this term, with 35 cases decided with full opinions, there has been...

But it is his sharp words about his Democratic opponents (on a day when they wait for election returns without making much news until tonight) that may catch the most attention. McCain explains: Obama in particular likes to talk up his background as a lecturer on law, and also as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done. But when Judge Roberts was nominated, it seemed to bring out more the lecturer in Senator Obama than it did the guy who can get things done. He went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the...

Obama appeared on Fox and the far left is upset he didn't take them on but rather was quite accommodating. The interview itself brought forth a few nuggets especially this head scratcher: WALLACE: But, Senator, if I may, I think one of the concerns that some people have is that you talk a good game about, let’s be post-partisan, let’s all come together — just a couple of quick things, and I don’t really want you to defend each one, I just want to speak to the larger issue. The gang of 14, which was a group — a bipartisan...

"Tony McDonald, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, sets up a protest anti- American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin December 4, 2006. The display features a 'Nancy Pelosi' angel, a 'suicide bomber' shepherd, and Marx, Lenin and Stalin as the Three Wise Men." "Josh Perry, a member of the University of Texas Young Conservatives, spreads hay as he sets up a protest anti-American Civil Liberties Union nativity scene, dubbed a 'solstice barn,' on the university's campus in Austin, Texas December 4, 2006. The display features a...

Had to truncate the title. Actually, it's: "Inside The Incredibly Shrinking Role Of the Supreme Court. And Why John Roberts Is O.K. With That" The Incredible Shrinking Court The irony is that the Court's ideology is playing a dwindling role in the lives of Americans. The familiar hot-button controversies--abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, police powers and so on--have been around so long, sifted and resifted so many times, that they now arrive at the court in highly specific cases affecting few, if any, real people. And it's not clear that Roberts wants to alter that trend. His speeches on...

The recent claims that newly-confirmed Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito were ignoring precedent, contrary to their confirmation hearings pledges, are partisan chum hurled into the waters where swim the most radical members of the Democratic base. I have earlier examined the general scope of the doctrine of stare decisis which requires Supreme Court Justices to give great weight under appropriate circumstance to prior rulings of the Court and to the statements both Justices gave on the issue during their confirmation hearings for American Thinker readers

WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice John Roberts checked himself out of a Maine hospital Tuesday after a medical emergency that illuminates the potential fragility of the Supreme Court. One day after suffering a still-unexplained seizure, Roberts returned to his summer vacation home on remote Hupper Island and told President Bush there was no cause for alarm. "It was a brief conversation, but one where the chief justice reassured the president that, in fact, he was doing fine," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. But with four of the court's nine justices over the age of 70, and with the 52-year-old Roberts'...

The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is "the most conservative in memory," and the Senate should not confirm another nominee to the bench from President Bush "except in extraordinary circumstances," in the view of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Addressing the fifth annual American Constitution Society convention Friday, Schumer said the Senate had been misled by the "charm of nominee Roberts and the erudition of nominee [Samuel] Alito." "Our fears were more than justified from the ultra-conservative record of [those] two men," said Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Schumer's comments coincided with a new ABC...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the top pro-abortion Democrats in the Senate says he wants Congress to slow down on confirming the next Supreme Court nominee if President Bush has a chance to pick one more before the end of his term. Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, commented on the same day a poll showed a majority of Americans backed the high court's decision in the partial-birth abortion case. Schumer said on Friday at the American Constitution Society convention that the Senate should only confirm Bush's next high court nominee "in extraordinary circumstances" and should "reverse the presumption...

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine on Monday, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. He will remain in a hospital in Maine overnight. "It's my understanding he's fully recovered, said Christopher Burke, a spokesman for Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where Roberts was taken. Roberts, 52, was taken by ambulance to the medical center, where he underwent a "thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern," Arberg said in a statement. Roberts had a similar episode in 1993, she said. Doctors called Monday's...

"About half of the public thinks the Supreme Court is generally balanced in its decisions, but a growing number of Americans say the court has become "too conservative" in the two years since President Bush began nominating justices, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Nearly a third of the public -- 31 percent -- thinks the court is too far to the right, a noticeable jump since the question was last asked in July 2005. That's when Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr. to the court and, in the six-month period that followed, the Senate approved Roberts as...

WHEN a majority of Supreme Court justices adopt a manifestly ideological agenda, it plunges the court into the vortex of American politics. If the Roberts court has entered voluntarily what Justice Felix Frankfurter once called the “political thicket,� it may require a political solution to set it straight. The framers of the Constitution did not envisage the Supreme Court as arbiter of all national issues. As Chief Justice John Marshall made clear in Marbury v. Madison, the court’s authority extends only to legal issues. When the court overreaches, the Constitution provides checks and balances. In 1805, after persistent political activity...

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to review the Senate testimony of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito to determine if their reversal of several long-standing opinions conflicts with promises they made to senators to win confirmation. Specter, who championed their confirmation, said Tuesday he will personally re-examine the testimony to see if their actions in court match what they told the Senate. "There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it," Specter said, singling out Roberts.The Specter inquiry poses a potential political problem for the GOP...

WASHINGTON -- The new Supreme Court is more conservative than it has been in decades. It's also meaner. It is a dream come true for Republican presidencies dating back to the "strict constructionist" court aspirations of President Nixon and now made possible by the conservative George W. Bush. Before closing down for the summer last month, the high court tossed out a flurry of decisions that overturned or reinterpreted long-standing liberal precedents. The court under Chief Justice John Roberts seems intent on rolling back advances in race and gender relations that have helped America achieve a more equal and humane...

The Court’s liberal critics are especially exercised by Justice Alito, who in a few cases voted differently than the justice he replaced, Sandra Day O’Connor. These critics say that the rule of law is eroded when the outcome of a case depends on who’s sitting on the bench. This critique comes a little late in the seasons of our experience. We don’t recall any of the legal experts who are condemning Alito having urged Ruth Bader Ginsburg to follow the example of the justice she replaced, Byron White, who dissented from the liberal constitutional agenda on abortion and gay rights.

Just say no. The Senate's Democratic majority -- joined by all Republicans who purport to be moderate -- must tell President Bush that this will be their answer to any controversial nominee to the Supreme Court or the appellate courts. The Senate should refuse even to hold hearings on Bush's next Supreme Court choice, should a vacancy occur, unless the president reaches agreement with the Senate majority on a mutually acceptable list of nominees. And no Bush nominee to a lower court deserves any deference now that we learn that U.S. Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh may have misled the...

WASHINGTON - Iraq remains chaotic and immigration overhaul faces an uncertain fate. But if President Bush wants to sing the old tune, “They can’t take that away from me” he can turn to the Supreme Court where his appointees Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito sit. As the high court nears the end of its 2006-2007 term, the impact of Bush’s appointees is becoming clearer. In high profile-decisions, Roberts and Alito have bolstered the conservative wing, which includes Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and occasionally Justice Anthony Kennedy. Former Reagan administration Justice Department official Doug Kmiec,...