# Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994 "2017-04-07T17:15:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/261 "2017-06-26T17:46:33Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > That would be a sad day for the Court. The Court NEEDS centrist jurists to act as the fulcrum on which the extremes can try to create balance. It’s one of the worst things about the Court for the last several years that he’s been the ONLY centrist left on the bench. It’s ok, they’ll have Roberts. He can be the centrist now. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/262 "2017-06-26T18:33:15Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I would bet Kennedy doesn’t retire just yet. I expect he’ll serve one more term, then retire. I think his decision will depend on the 2018 elections and on how quickly impeachment advances. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/263 "2017-06-26T18:34:49Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It’s ok, they’ll have Roberts. He can be the centrist now. And there goes the Overton window, sliding to the right. Of course, that’s a plus in your eyes, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/264 "2017-06-26T19:08:33Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > And there goes the Overton window, sliding to the right. Of course, that’s a plus in your eyes, I guess. Roberts at the center of the Supreme Court instead of Kennedy, yeah, I’d call that a plus. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/265 "2017-06-26T20:31:53Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It’s ok, they’ll have Roberts. He can be the centrist now. The Chief Justice is many things, but “centrist” he is not. He might end up in the “center” of the justices if they are strung out along an axis from “conservative” to “liberal”, but that just means the mean will be quite a bit left of the median. The one thing the CJ likes to do is try for consensus. He sees that as Very Important. So that does tend to pull him occasionally more to the “center” of some issues. But he’s also principled, in that he doesn’t just say what he says because it’s outcome determinative (unlike some current and former justices we could name). So that keeps him pretty well to the right of “center” on most issues. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994/266 "2017-06-26T20:35:01Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I thought it a bit flip that Breyer would downplay the precedential nature of the outcome. I don’t think he’s trying to do that. I think he’s sending out the signal that this is as far as he’s prepared to go, and if you go further into the realm of things that the CJ was discussing in his opinion, Breyer will end up on the other side of the result. And it WAS refreshing to have three separate opinions tell the Chief Justice to stop dabbling in _obiter dictum_. 😃 > [@](#): > > I would bet Kennedy doesn’t retire just yet. I expect he’ll serve one more term, then retire. At first I was on board the retirement rumors, but in hearing that he hired his four clerks, it would be too dickish to do that while planning to retire. I did not know he had done that. I, too, doubt he would hire clerks, only to retire. He’s a much more principled man than that. I have fond memories of him when he was adjunct faculty at my law school while I was there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trinity-lutheran-church-of-columbia-inc-v-comer/783994.md?page=13)