Posted on 11/23/2018 12:21:31 AM PST by Kaslin
After yet another liberal California judge earlier this week blocked one of President Trump’s policies - this time a new asylum rule that would have required applicants to arrive at a designated port of entry (a lot to ask, I know) - the understandably frustrated president lashed out at liberal courts in general.
“I think it’s a disgrace when every case gets filed in the 9th Circuit,” said Trump. “That’s not law, that’s not what this country stands for. Every case that gets filed in the 9th Circuit, we get beaten and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court, like the travel ban, and we won.”
The president was referring to the fact that, as ‘luck’ has it, the decision would need to be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Known affectionately as the ‘9th Circus Court’ or ‘The Nutty 9th,’ this wackadoodle collection of Birkenstock-wearing hippies who call themselves ‘judges’ - the same group that famously ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains the words “under God’ - seems to take delight in foiling literally everything Trump-related that comes before them on the basis of the firm legal precedent that Trump’s a meanie.
How liberal? Put it this way - so liberal even the squishy Senator Jeff Flake introduced a bill last year that would have split them up, lamenting that the court, as currently comprised, “represents 40 percent of all the landmass in the U.S., 20 percent of the population.”
So when Trump took a swipe at this black-robe-clad West-Coast edition of the Che Guevara fan club, he merely echoed sentiments conservatives have had for years. But because it’s all cool and stuff to criticize Trump, none other than Chief Justice John Roberts felt obligated to speak out.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement to the Associated Press. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
Interestingly, as Senator Chuck Grassley pointed out Wednesday via Twitter, presidents have criticized courts before - even the Supreme Court - and not gotten nearly the backlash from Roberts.
Grassley’s history lesson referred to 2010, when former President Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s then-recent 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, a campaign finance case, during his first State of the Union speech. Obama’s public humiliation of the court in front of the entire nation - while they were all sitting there, no less - was so egregious that Justice Alito felt compelled to famously mouth the words “not true” as the world looked on.
To his credit, Roberts addressed the issue several weeks later but his criticism wasn’t so much directed at Obama himself, but rather at the “very troubling” political atmosphere at the State of the Union address. In fact, the chief justice actually went out of his way to suggest that Obama and others have “an obligation” to “criticize what we do” if they disagree.
Not so with Trump, of course. Instead, we’re lectured about judges somehow being apolitical when anyone with any political sense knows that’s not true.
Can we attribute Roberts’ statement to congeniality alone? Sure, it’s good to get along with the people you work with, especially if you’re stuck with them literally for life. It would be miserable to have the same hatred for people you spend most of your day with that Left and Right seem to have for each other in the Trump-era. So in that sense I get that Kavanaugh and Kagan probably enjoy playing patty-cake together and Roberts probably gets a ‘do-gooder’ rush when he holds Ginsburg’s knitting while she takes her 5th power nap of the day.
But let’s not forget that these judges are literally deciding whether America prospers over the next several decades or whether our country turns into a Third World hellhole. Yes, they have far too much power, but power they have, power that affects us all in more ways than we can imagine. They may be set for life, but our lives in many ways hang in the balance.
Roberts’ statement responding to Trump, while assumedly well-meaning, speaks to the myopia of a man who has been removed from the life of an ordinary American for far too long. No “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges” ?? Is this man serious? First of all, are there ANY examples of a judge appointed by Obama or Clinton NOT consistently ruling to strip the Constitution of every shred of its original meaning and turn the United States into a Third World banana republic?
On the other hand, while there are wonderful examples of judges appointed by conservative presidents literally preserving our nation with smart rulings, why do far too many of these judges get mushy in the head as their time on the bench grows? We all know what happened to David Souter. The real question is - will the same fate befall John Roberts?
President Trump deservedly lashed out at the chief justice again on Thanksgiving:
“Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster,” Trump tweeted. “It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result. Judges must not Legislate Security and Safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written!”
The “Constitution as written.” Perish the thought. Sure, maybe that’s what most ordinary Americans want, but does John Roberts? Or does the man who has already ruled to keep Obamacare wish to replace Anthony Kennedy as the court’s ‘swing-vote,’ and thus the most important person in America?
Sounds like a turd
We were warned and President Trump seems to have read the book.
Chief Injustice John Roberts pledges allegiance to the Swamp and not to the Constitution he is supposed to uphold as the top judge in our nation. Trump is exposing the sad fact there is no rule of law in this country anymore, and that the people who are SUPPOSED to enforce those laws have all sold out to and have been bought off by the Deep State.
Pressure needs to be applied for the human trafficking of his adopted children. Embarrass him till he quits the bench.
Roberts was appointed by Bush and extorted by Obama after he agreed to obamacare as the law of the land because Obama had something on him, the illegal adoption of his kid!
JR, your tools are not working properly. Your level best is not level at best. Rather than equal and even, WTP find it weighted at one end of the spectrum.
Until changed, we have no expectations of any improvement.
9th Circuit = Circus
All that is missing is the ring master and a whip.
Yes, it is past time for Roberts to discover that he needs to resign and spend more time with his illegal family.
1 Trump is completely correct.
2 The federal judiciary is a separate branch of government and judges are extremely collegial. Arguing with Roberts about other judges is idiotic. Because you’re going to get a liberal ruling just to show you they weren’t intimidated. Shouldn’t happen but it will.
When I heard about this statement, the first thing I thought of was blackmail, just like the Obamacare case.
I fully expect soon Roberts will become involved in some kind of scandal. Look at what has happened to those going after Trump. God is in charge.
Derp state. A wonderful typo.
Yeah, at the last minute, after his Harriet Miers pick failed.
Roberts proved Trump right and Grassley pointed it out....
Nope, it's in the video of john roberts and his sexual proclivities.
Black mail owns black robes, works every time.
One can only hope.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool Liberal than to speak and to remove all doubt.
Trump -0
Put in a bucket?
The federal judiciary is comprised of a dangerous elite that surmises that it has a wisdom which is superior to the will of the People.
Roberts should be made to resign because he has violated the Judicial Canon of ethics by engaging in political activity. Or his he preparing to recuse himself from any SCOTUS hearing on illegal aliens and enforcing the border?
The Conservative balance on the court is in favor of Republicans now, and the little closet lefty legislators on the bench are being squeezed like zits.
Roberts needs to go.
I would like to see CJ Roberts step down and be offered a job in the Trump administration, say Director of Homeland Security, or DHHS. It would really round out his “education” about how government “works”, besides other benefits (for the rest of the nation).
FDR appointed James Byrnes to the bench in the early 1940s and in less than 2 years, as I understand it, FDR “pulled” Byrnes off the Court and made him director of Economic Stabilization. It amazes me that a person with a lifetime appointment would step down to take such a position. In this instance, FDR really controlled the Court by even taking a justice off the court. Roberts is living in la la la land. His being there concerns me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.