It's that time of year when the life-long inhabitants of America's imperial court, also known as the Supreme Court, come down from their benches to mingle with the masses.
It's a joke. The judges limit their appearances to friendly audiences, to elite people too educated to ask about matters such as gifts from billionaires with business before the court or misleading confirmation testimony to the Senate.
Since oral arguments for this term's cases ended in late April, the justices are now drafting decisions that will be published through June, including on whether retain gun rights of domestic abusers; limit access to mifepristonethe pill used in two-thirds of abortions; guts federal agencies regulatory power; and immunize Donald Trump of criminal prosecution. As they write opinions, they accept some invitations to speak, opening a window into their thoughts and complaints.
opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical look to the national political scene. He has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
Four of the six members of the court's conservative supermajority have been on the stump in recent days. Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett M. Kavanaugh spoke to groups of lawyers and judges in the pleasant South. Samuel A. Alito Jr., one of the court's six Catholics, was the commencement speaker at “passionately Catholic” Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. And Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. gave a deliberately bland speech to a Washington-based judicial panel.
The other three were more interesting. Kavanaugh defensively suggested that the unpopular court's unpopular decisions (ending a half-century of abortion rights, for example) would be viewed more favorably over time. Thomas complained to a sympathetic crowd about “the evil and the lies” in the media about him and his future insurrectionist wife, Ginni; A lot of that coverage recently won a Pulitzer Prize for ProPublica. And Alito enjoyed a standing ovation when he was presented as the author of the 2022 anti-abortion Dobbs ruling, despite overwhelming opposition to it nationwide.
Kavanaugh spoke Friday in Austin, Texas. The city is a progressive oasis. in the red state, but Kavanaugh appeared before judges, lawyers and court officials related to the most conservative of the federal appeals courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. At a time when the Supreme Court is polls at historic lows On job approval and public trust, Kavanaugh was appropriately asked during a question-and-answer session how to increase trust in the judiciary.
He didn't seem to see the problem. Instead, Kavanaugh gleefully compared the current Roberts court—which has vastly expanded the rights of gun owners, police, and corporations, limited those of voters, consumers, and women, and eroded the wall between Church and State) with Court of the 1950s and 1960s, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, whose landmark rulings desegregated public schools, expanded voting and other civil rights, ended mandatory Christian prayer in schools, and established new rights for criminal defendants.
The Warren court's decisions were “unpopular basically from start to finish,” Kavanaugh said. And yet, “many of them are milestones that we now accept as part of the fabric of America.”
You are right about the legacy of the Warren Court. But Kavanaugh is kidding himself if he believes that Dobbs and other decisions he has supported will end up winning broad support. The Warren court is remembered for expanding the constitutional rights of individuals; the Roberts court, in overturning Roe, is the first to withdraw it. (Kavanaugh's support for Dobbs prompted Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the deciding vote on her confirmation, to complain that he had “cheated” her during the Senate's consideration of her nomination.)
Thomas spoke the same day at a conference of the conservative 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Georgia, Florida and Alabama. His most notable comments reflected the other legacy of the Roberts court: ethical indifference. The event was held at a luxury resort on Alabama's Gulf Coast, appropriate given Thomas's well-documented affinity for such places. by ProPublica and other means. Republican donor and billionaire Harlan Crow provided Thomas with yacht trips, real estate offers and other benefits.
Also fittingly, Thomas was with his wife, Ginni, who not only shared the generosity but is also central to Thomas' other ethical transgressions. He worked behind the scenes to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election, However, Thomas has refused to recuse himself He separated himself from three cases before the court related to January 6 and Trump's role in colluding to stay in power.
According to Thomas, the problem is not their conflicts of interest but the critics and us. journalists who report on him. “Especially in Washington, people pride themselves on being horrible,” he said.
And that's why he and Ginni like to travel in RVs around the country to see “normal people.” Thomas did not mention that a investigation of the New York Times discovered that his luxurious 40-foot motorhome was backed by another wealthy friend.
alito, another billionaire beneficiary, received an honorary degree in Christian Ethics at Franciscan University on Saturday. Like Thomas, he complained about the critics of him; appropriately, he cited Rodney “I don't get any respect” Dangerfield. Alito has become known for worrying about Christian conservatives not getting respect, even though he and other conservative Catholics dominate the court. The free exercise of religion is “a disadvantaged right” They have criticized it in the past and “it cannot be said that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”
In that spirit, Alito warned Franciscan graduates: “When you venture out into the world, you may find yourself in a job, community, or social environment where you will be pressured to support ideas you don't believe in or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand your ground.”
God knows what he does. And also Thomas and Kavanaugh. The rest of us, the masses, are worse off for their supreme shortsightedness.
