# Federal Judge denounces Chief Justice Roberts and his right-wing Court **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275 "2020-03-11T15:37:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/1 "2020-03-11T15:37:19Z")
[This link will take you to an abstract, and place to download or view a pdf paper](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3540318) by a Federal Judge. > [@Lynn Adelman](#): > > By now, it is a truism that Chief Justice John Roberts’ statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that a Supreme Court justice’s role is the passive one of a neutral baseball “umpire who [merely] calls the balls and strikes” was a masterpiece of disingenuousness. Roberts’ misleading testimony inevitably comes to mind when one considers the course of decision-making by the Court over which he presides. This is so because the Roberts Court has been anything but passive. Rather, the Court’s hard right majority is actively participating in undermining American democracy. Indeed, the Roberts Court has contributed to insuring that the political system in the United States pays little attention to ordinary Americans and responds only to the wishes of a relatively small number of powerful corporations and individuals… > > … The Court’s termination of the recount of votes in Florida and its award of the Presidency to its preferred candidate demonstrated an enormous disrespect for voters and for the democratic process. As we will see, many of the Roberts Court’s decisions involving voting rights demonstrate a similar disrespect. It is worth noting that then attorney John Roberts, now Chief Justice, played a significant, if little known, role in assisting the Bush forces. > … [The Judiciary turned right-wing as early as the 1970’s, for example with] the Burger Court’s 1973 decision in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez in which the Court’s 5-4 conservative majority upheld a school financing system in Texas in which for every $1,000 that the state sent wealthy districts, it sent only $370 to poor districts. The Court held squarely that students in public schools had no constitutional right to an equal public education. > … Possibly the Court’s most disturbing attack on voting rights can be found in two decisions which, taken together, come close to totally eviscerating the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and dismantling all federal protection of minority voting rights. The VRA … has long been regarded as the most important, or one of the most important, civil rights laws ever enacted … Since the demise of the VRA’s formula, states and municipalities formerly covered by the law have implemented numerous discriminatory voting procedures. Within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision, Texas announced that its previously blocked discriminatory voter-identification law would immediately go into effect. Local governments in Texas also made many discriminatory changes. One city eliminated two city council seats in predominantly Hispanic districts and replaced them with at-large seats in majority-white districts. North Carolina also quickly got in on the act, passing an omnibus law including a strict photo-ID requirement, elimination of same-day voter registration, a seven-day decrease in the early voting period, and invalidation of provisional ballots cast at the wrong polling station… … The paper is 35 pages long, but I don’t want to violate the rule on excessive excerptation. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/2 "2020-03-11T15:49:31Z")
OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/3 "2020-03-11T15:50:58Z")
OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/4 "2020-03-11T16:06:24Z")
I’ve seen it mentioned a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/5 "2020-03-11T16:09:39Z")
_:golf clap:_ Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/6 "2020-03-11T16:10:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? It was when Schumer said something. But I guess that was oral as opposed to written criticism. Maybe that’s more newsworthy? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/7 "2020-03-11T16:20:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? I thought Republicans openly admitted their goal was to place Republican judges on the courts and turn the court system into an arm of the Republican party. They tell supporters it’s one of the reasons they should vote for Republican candidates. So when a Democrat says that Republicans have done the thing they promised they were going to do, how is it an attack? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/8 "2020-03-11T16:58:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? I’m no expert but it _does_ seem unusual for a sitting member of the Federal bench to openly criticize the Chief Justice. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/9 "2020-03-11T19:52:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m no expert but it _does_ seem unusual for a sitting member of the Federal bench to openly criticize the Chief Justice. Yeah, that’s what life tenure allows you to do. Of course, the critique is entirely justified. What is equal protection if it doesn’t include equal chance to vote. Or equal support of all the schools? Can you imagine this court outlawing segregation? Even the original Plessy required "separate but **equal**. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/10 "2020-03-11T21:15:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I thought Republicans openly admitted their goal was to place Republican judges on the courts and turn the court system into an arm of the Republican party. They tell supporters it’s one of the reasons they should vote for Republican candidates. > > So when a Democrat says that Republicans have done the thing they promised they were going to do, how is it an attack? “Republicans openly admitted their goal was to place Republican judges on the courts and turn the court system into an arm of the Republican party.” Do you have a source for this supposed GOP declaration? ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/11 "2020-03-11T21:38:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m no expert but it _does_ seem unusual for a sitting member of the Federal bench to openly criticize the Chief Justice. It’s only news if it’s some blogger or random asshole on Twitter. At less as t that’s the impression I get. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/12 "2020-03-11T21:50:57Z")
Is this federal judge seeing the same SCOTUS we are seeing? This is the same Roberts who voted in favor of ACA, and voted against Trump’s Census citizenship question. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/13 "2020-03-12T01:06:03Z")
Was Judge Adelman incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-judge-denounces-chief-justice-roberts-and-his-right-wing-court/849275/14 "2020-03-12T09:54:56Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Originally Posted by Shodan > OK - a Democrat writes an opinion piece attacking Republicans. This is news? > I’m no expert but it _does_ seem unusual for a sitting member of the Federal bench to openly criticize the Chief Justice. It is confused to view the elevation of criminals and other miscreants to high judicial or Justice positions as a matter of simple D vs R partisanship. Dopers are encouraged to fight their ignorance by [watching this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFj4nZQcEVg) Senior Judge Reggie Walton has taken the unprecedented step of declaring that the Trumpist Attorney General of the United Stats is untrustworthy, and must disclose in camera what redactions he made to the Mueller Report. Reggie Walton was appointed as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1981 by Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was A REPUBLICAN. Judge Walton was re-appointed to that Court in 1991 by George H.W. Bush. George H.W. Bush was A REPUBLICAN. In 2001 Walton was nominated to serve as Federal District Judge by George W. Bush. George W. Bush is A REPUBLICAN. HTH.