A recent news report (ArcaMax) stated:
“U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said he’s concerned criticism of the Supreme Court over controversial decisions has veered into attacks on its legitimacy as an institution. Speaking publicly for the first time since the court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, Roberts said criticism of rulings is “entirely appropriate,” but that the court’s role doesn’t change because people disagree with its decisions.
“’People can say what they want,’ he said late Friday at a conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where lawyers and judges gathered to discuss legal developments. But ‘simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court.’”
So, all who are claiming that the legitimacy of the Court is being rapidly eroded, including me, are motivated simply from disagreement with the decision and not via any of the infantile, erroneous arguments put forth by the majority? Just that?
How about in the Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. decision (06/27/2022)? The majority claimed that the football coach was praying in private! The school district actually offered the coach a private space to pray in, but the coach refused that offer and insisted upon praying on the 50-yard line of the football game immediately after the game concluded. Do the Justices know what the purpose of a football stadium is? It is to allow people, many people, to watch what is happening on the field. Were the stands empty when the coach did his thing? No? So, the coach turned down an actual private space for his prayers, insisting on this very public space and your majority concludes that the coach was exercising his First Amendment right to pray “in private.” Did the justices or their clerks read the documents submitted? Did they see the photos?
The Chief Justice seems to have mastered the straw man argument. He claims that all of those claiming the Court is losing legitimacy because they disagree with the outcome to be mislead. Okay, what about the many thousands left who are criticizing the shoddy work of the majorities in these case? What about us?