Hell is supposed to be, well hell but former Chief Justice Roger Taney has been enjoying himself for far too long watching successor Chief Justice Roberts. Make no mistake. His milquetoast, whitebread ‘moderate’ (?) image notwithstanding John Roberts is a stone cold racist. In what is almost universally considered the worst SCOTUS decision ever rendered, the infamous Dred Scott Taney wrote this about black people:
“They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order… and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
This article from Level lays out the case why Roberts is actually worse than Taney. He’s all butt-hurt sad about being called out (along with his fellow GOP appointed Fascists) as being political over the systematic rollback of rights on non-white (and for the most part male too) rights. But as the linked article indicates Roberts actually has less regard for the rights of black people than Taney did. Dred Scott was the first of only two SCOTUS decisions in U.S. History overturned by Constitutional amendment but it was the law of the land until the 14th amendment was passed.
Interestingly the current Court is working furiously to “reinterpret” the 14th to render it meaningless to what was clearly intended when it was passed. The whole sordid business cost SCOTUS its credibility and to me it looks like we have history repeating itself. The only way a Roberts’ Court won’t strike down a new Voting Rights Act is by Constitutional amendment but the chances of one being ratified by enough states is close to zero. There is a lot of ugliness ahead as this country continues to deal with its ‘Original Sin’ of racism and slavery. So we find ourselves living in an era like the song “Everything Old Is New Again’:
Taney held a wide range of racist views beyond the infamous line in Dred Scott. He believed Black people were inherently inferior, could never be citizens, should not testify against whites, could be excluded from states, and that slavery was a constitutionally protected institution.
You might think a comparison of John Roberts to Roger B. Taney is a major stretch, but Roberts has shown less respect for the rights of Black people than Taney and has been more effective at disenfranchising them. Even though Roberts has authored some of the most consequential conservative rulings of the last 20 years, major media outlets often frame him as a moderate, institutionalist, or guardian of the Court’s legitimacy.
It’s true there have been instances of Roberts bucking the conservative line. The ACA individual mandate for one. An abortion decision in Louisiana, blocking Trump on a census question and most recently the tariffs ruling. It’s been enough for the news outlets to mostly paint him as a ‘moderate’ but that’s bullshit. Roberts is nothing like the ‘swing vote’ Justice Anthony Kennedy was. The examples I just cited were the exception, not the rule. As the linked article notes Roberts has sometimes slowed the pace of conservative change not because he disagrees with it, but because he favors ‘incrementalism.’
Yep, whittling away most of the time in the hopes it won’t get noticed, at least until it’s too late. Or worse because it teed up a chance to take a big whack at creating White (Supremacy) Rule via judicial fiat. Worse, like I said too many including and especially those in journalism have gotten suckered by Roberts’ ‘moderate’ playacting. When it comes to the Voting Rights Act he’s fought tooth and nail to get rid of it since he was just starting out as a young lawyer in the Reagan administration. He got overruled then, and again working for Bush 43 but then became Chief Justice. With a Federalist Society Plan he’d been part of from the beginning well entrenched to pack the Court with others like him. As the linked article flatly states, “In truth, Roberts has been the most effective Justice in his lifetime, perhaps in history, in protecting the rights of white people by removing those of Black ones. Taney would be proud.”
To “proud” I’d add envious. Much has been made over the past couple of decades about Roberts wanting to protect his legacy. To been seen as one of our top Chief Justices. I think his name will one day stand out in the history books but not in the way he’d hoped. Whether he got greedy/overeager or fell victim to hubris Roberts has made clear who and what he is. AND what he thinks anyone who isn’t white, especially black people are not. I’ll say it again – John Roberts is a stone cold racist. I never thought I’d know one as awful as my piece of sh!t grandfather but Roberts is just as bad and worse, more dangerous. He’s not a racist with a badge, but one with a judicial robe. The top judge/Justice in the land.
John Roberts will never write a sentence as blunt as Roger Taney’s declaration that Black people had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” He doesn’t have to. His project has been quieter, procedural, and wrapped in the language of neutrality, but its consequences land in the same historical neighborhood. By hollowing out the Voting Rights Act, ending affirmative action, insulating partisan gerrymandering, and elevating a “color‑blind” Constitution that refuses to see the structures that racism built, Roberts has done what Taney attempted and failed to do: he has rewritten the rules of American democracy without ever admitting that race was the point.
I urge you to read the entire linked article. Hell, bookmark it. That way you can refer back to it when discussing civil and voting rights. And also why job one is to put Democrats back in control of the Senate this fall as a check on any Trump appointments to the Court. Neither Alito or Thomas seem inclined to retire but we thought the same about Anthony Kennedy. His son’s dealings were enough to force him out which is how the opening that led to Kavanaugh happened. Democrats can at least force any nominees to be less crazy, or if they have to “go McConnell” and simply not approve someone. Because job two will be keeping the Senate and retaking the White House in 2028.
It will take at least a generation to get back to where we were before Roberts became Chief Justice. However it’s long past time to repeatedly call him out for what he truly is and always has been – a RACIST who literally hates the very notion that a black person has Constitutional rights that he or any white person has to respect.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
It’s a sad day when the highest court in the land is actively and successfully undermining what we “libruls” believe is the very essence of our democracy: equal rights for ALL the people.