Thread by @stevenmazie

Chief Justice Roberts just released his 2019 year-end report on the federal judiciary. At the close of his jauntily written tribute to civic education, I detect a subtle rebuke of some conservative lower-court judges whose recent opinions read like partisan screeds. 1/

He begins with a story of John Jay, the least prolific of the three Federalist Papers authors. It seems he sustained a head wound from a rioter’s rock that thrust Hamilton and Madison into their headliner roles. 2/

Roberts then laments (w/ a somewhat clunky transition) that civic education has “fallen by the wayside” and praises the “judges and staff of our federal courts” for helping to spread the good word on America’s constitutional experiment. 3/

Decisions like CJ Warren’s unanimous 11-pp ruling in Brown v. Board enable “every citizen [to] understand the Court’s rationale”. Today, courts “post their opinions online, giving the public instant access to the reasoning behind the judgments that affect their lives”. 4/

After citing the efforts of several courts, Justices O’Connor and Sotomayor and the National Constitution Center, Roberts then issues a call to America’s federal judges. The wording is interesting. 5/

He asks his colleagues to “promote public confidence in the judiciary” thru “their rulings” to preserve America’s “independent judiciary”. That means showing “humility” and “integrity” in written opinions so the public believes judges are delivering “equal justice under law”. 6/

Public trust in the courts is a well-worn theme for the Chief. Nothing new there. But these comments—and Roberts’s direct “ask” of his colleagues—have a different ring in light of some recent brazenly partisan rulings from lower-court judges. 7/

Example 1: Judge James Ho’s concurrence two weeks ago in an abortion case where he repeatedly referred to fetuses as “babies” and called for respect for the view that abortion is “the immoral, tragic, and violent taking of innocent human life”. 8/
ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/1…

Example 2: Another 5th circuit opinion from December—by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod—favorably quoting a report calling Obamacare “a fraud on the American people”. 9/

ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/1…

Compare that to CJ Roberts’s good-faith description of the ACA in 2015’s King v. Burwell. 10/

supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf…

Of course, Roberts doesn’t call out particular judges in his report. His appeal could also be seen as an indictment of Justice Thomas’s more extreme opinions, such this rant from May where he called abortion “a tool of modern-day eugenics”. 11/

supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…

But Roberts must be fretting over the increasing politicization of the courts, the shamelessness of Trump/McConnell trumpeting their right-wing appointments & flagrant partisanship in recent judicial decisions. 12/

Don't get the wrong idea: Chief Justice Roberts wants to move the constitution and the country to the right. He has done so and will continue to do so. But he wants everyone to do it more quietly. 13/13

Here's the full report supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/yea…