John Roberts and the Return of High Court Taneyism

On January 22, the High Court granted a request from the Biden administration to allow federal Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire installed by Texas along the southern border. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Roberts ruled in favor of the federal government with the Court s three Democrat-appointed justices.

Also in the majority, however, was Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who abandoned her fellow conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh to join Roberts and the liberals in a tiebreaking 5-4 majority.

Some Court observers were quick to note that the Court s January 22 ruling only relates to a court order on removing the razor wire and in fact does not forbid Texas from reinstalling it and other barriers along the Texas border. Moreover, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to hear the case on the substantive merits, leaving open the possibility of a Texas victory in the near future.

But even so, Roberts s apparent success in bringing Justice Barrett to his side in the Texas ruling signals a potentially ominous sign for the remainder of the Court s 2023-2024 term. The justices are soon expected to decide questions relating to President Donald Trump, including on matters such as a ballot eligibility, the question of presidential immunity, the dubious legality of the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith, and the extraordinary decision of a radicalized federal judge to silence a defendant from criticizing the role of politics in a clearly politicized prosecution. They are also set to rule on issues such as the future of Chevron deference, which gave unwarranted authority to the administrative state, and the availability of abortion pills, among other high-profile questions.

With the constitutional and political stakes as high as they are, Roberts is almost certainly working frantically behind the scenes on some of these cases to circumvent what he perceives to be an impending public relations disaster for the Court as it approaches the end of its term this summer.

via amac.us