As I thought all along..once a person gets confirmed for life, they are free to vote their conscience--and ignore politics, if they wish.
the court has a long history of independence, we see that again with this SCOTUS--the real question is will it last..when the ideological meat of the docket comes up later this year?
The arrival of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October seemed to create a 6-to-3 conservative juggernaut that would transform the Supreme Court.
Instead, judging by the 39 signed decisions in argued cases so far this term, including two major rulings on Thursday, the right side of the court is badly fractured and its liberal members are having a surprisingly good run.
That picture may change, as the court has yet to issue the term’s last 15 decisions. But some trends have already come into focus.
The conventional wisdom last fall was that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s leadership, with its bias toward incrementalism and moderation, was over. With five justices to his right, including three appointed by President Donald J. Trump, the chief justice’s ability to guide the court was thought to have evaporated.
The story of the term so far, though, is a different one. Indeed, it is the court’s most conservative members who are issuing howling dissents and aggrieved concurrences to protest a majority they say is too cautious.
That majority very often includes Mr. Trump’s appointees, notably Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who is now at the court’s ideological center, replacing the chief justice.
the court has a long history of independence, we see that again with this SCOTUS--the real question is will it last..when the ideological meat of the docket comes up later this year?
The arrival of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October seemed to create a 6-to-3 conservative juggernaut that would transform the Supreme Court.
Instead, judging by the 39 signed decisions in argued cases so far this term, including two major rulings on Thursday, the right side of the court is badly fractured and its liberal members are having a surprisingly good run.
That picture may change, as the court has yet to issue the term’s last 15 decisions. But some trends have already come into focus.
The conventional wisdom last fall was that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s leadership, with its bias toward incrementalism and moderation, was over. With five justices to his right, including three appointed by President Donald J. Trump, the chief justice’s ability to guide the court was thought to have evaporated.
The story of the term so far, though, is a different one. Indeed, it is the court’s most conservative members who are issuing howling dissents and aggrieved concurrences to protest a majority they say is too cautious.
That majority very often includes Mr. Trump’s appointees, notably Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who is now at the court’s ideological center, replacing the chief justice.
