Mike Pence attacks Chief Justice John Roberts as "disappointement to conservatives"

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/06/mike-pence-attacks-chief-justi.html

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Isn’t everything a disappointment to conservatives? They seem to be very much “glass half empty” kind of people to me.

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So, no rapture for Roberts?

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It’s funny, Roberts thought that abject cowardice at the Senate impeachment trial was the way into conservative hearts, but failed to realize that abandoning any pretense of jurisprudence was also mandatory.

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So, apparently you guys misspelled “Bigoted Dipshits Who Want To Drag Us Back to the 1520s”.

It’s not spelled “Conservatives”

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A disappointment to social conservatives, perhaps, but never to moneyCons. Roberts’ primary concern when assessing any case put before him is “will the outcome be good for large corporations and wealthy people?” If it’s not, he’ll rule against it. If it is, he’ll rule for it. And in the rare cases where money isn’t involved in some way it could go either way – he doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about any religion except worship of Mammon.

I’m sure that Pence knows this, but he has to express this faux outrage in order to rile up the base with the implied (and typically immediately broken) promise that Biff will put a true Xtianist on the SCOTUS in his second term.

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Roberts may be a disappointment to conservatives, but lilly-livered Pence is a disappointment to all of humanity.

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Roberts may have gone the other way on social issues, but he was lockstep on most of the decisions about electoral shenanigans to enshrine right-wing political dominance. Perhaps socially independent, but demonstrably politically authoritarian.

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Everything constitutional is. That’s why they claim such affinity for it without actually knowing much of anything of the intent. They decide what their position is and then find parts to cherry-pick to substantiate their cruelty. If that doesn’t work, they go to the articles of confederation or pull one line from a letter Jefferson wrote.

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The criticism is pretty ironic given the actual problem Pence et al has with Roberts is that he is (relatively speaking) pretty “conservative” when it comes to application of the Court’s power. His bullshit about “calling balls and strikes” at his confirmation was disingenuous for someone as steeped in the history of the Court as he was, but the reason they’re mad at him is because he’s hewing too closely to that pledge he made.

Of course, striking down large swaths of the VRA and affirmative action heal some of those wounds, but they’re a petty group.

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…which is exactly what religious people do with their texts. Conservatives treat the constitution just like a secular religion. A holy text that shan’t be questioned and shall be taken as infallible (ie. Textual Originalism) yet somehow always manages to say what they want it to this week.

The more vague the writing, the stronger this effect is. It’s why 2e is so popular (nonsensically vague), yet nobody has ever done a damn thing with 3e (which is oddly specific).

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Because that was long long ago and not right now. Seems like the people still identifying as conservatives have Trump’s lack of object permanence.

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He does rather give the impression that he is mostly a disappointment to himself.

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That’s a rather extraordinary attack on the independence of the Judiciary. I’m not holding my breath for the spineless Senate to censure him.

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Conservatives have gotten so used to their success moving the Overton window to the right that they forget how it makes previously solid conservatives into “liberals” over time.

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My take is that Roberts is transactional and very concerned about legacy. It’s really the best liberals could have hoped for from a Bush appointee because we get scraps too. He’ll lean conservative any time he can get away with it while avoiding being tarred as a conservative, partisan, legislating-from-the-bench body. Which is pretty much what they are.

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Pretty much what they do with the bible too.

ETA @VeronicaConnor got there first. I should really read the whole thread before commenting

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Isn’t Roberts the guy that said racism is over and let the south gerrymander for the conservatives? That wasn’t enough?

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The only time they’re not disappointed is when they see their decisions are hurting “bad people”.

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