Chief John Roberts has been sucking. That the short and blunt way to put it. Yet, Vice President Mike Pence was much more diplomatic saying that the Bush appointee to the Supreme Court has been a “disappointment.” That’s an understatement, to be frank (via Politico):
Vice President Mike Pence described Chief Justice John Roberts in a new interview as a “disappointment” to conservative voters, explicitly seeking to cast the Supreme Court as a campaign issue ahead of the November election.
“Look, we have great respect for the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Pence told the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody on Wednesday. “But Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives — whether it be the Obamacare decision, or whether it be a spate of recent decisions all the way through Calvary Chapel.”
[…]
Pence argued Wednesday that those decisions “are a reminder of just how important this election is for the future of the Supreme Court.”
“We remember the issue back in 2016, which I believe loomed large in voters’ decisions between Hillary Clinton and the man who would become president of the United States,” he said. “And some people thought that it wouldn’t be as big an issue these days. But I think that’s all changed.”
Mike Pence blasted Chief Justice John Roberts in a new interview, explicitly seeking to cast the Supreme Court as a campaign issue ahead of the November election.
— POLITICO (@politico) August 6, 2020
“Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives,” Pence said https://t.co/5Fphxk1IqK pic.twitter.com/NB4TpNvnui
.@VP calls out Chief Justice Roberts... https://t.co/AxvwYxthb6
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 6, 2020
VP Pence says that Chief Justice Roberts has let down conservatives because of his decisions in which he sided with the Supreme Court's liberal justices. https://t.co/FCfwx9Td8P
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 6, 2020
Yeah, in the Calvary case, which is set in Nevada, Roberts apparently thinks COVID restrictions should only apply to churches, but the rest of the Las Vegas strip can operate beyond the 50-person capacity. It’s a nonsense opinion, which was eviscerated in one paragraph by Justice Neil Gorsuch. This isn’t the first time Roberts has sided with liberals on COVID restrictions for places of worship. He’s also stabbed conservatives in the back over Louisiana’s abortion law. Roberts' first and most critical betrayal was on Obamacare, where he said the individual mandate was constitutional under the government’s tax authority, even though that is not what the Obama administration argued.
Chief Justice Roberts has been sucking for quite some time, and conservatives have known that. Trump has made some excellent decisions for SCOTUS and the rest of the judiciary. One of the many reasons to give him a second term.