Chief Justice John Roberts tells Senate Democrats to pound sand

Ever since the story broke of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s upside-down insurrection flag, Democrats have been calling on him to police himself. On Wednesday, he said nope, not gonna, you can’t make him. And on Thursday, Chief Justice John Roberts told Democrats that’s good enough for him. In regard to questions concerning any Justice's participation in pending cases, the Members of the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the practice we have followed for 235 years pursuant to which individual Justices decide recusal issues. … It is my understanding that Justice Alito has sent you a letter addressing this subject. Yes, Alito sent a letter addressing whether he should recuse himself from cases concerning the Donald Trump-inspired insurrection on the grounds that the pro-insurrection flag at his house sure made him look pro-insurrection himself. He addressed it by saying it’s all his wife’s fault because she really loves flying all kinds of flags, and even though he told her to take it down, she’s quite insubordinate and refused. But also, Alito has consulted himself on whether he can be impartial—and he had decided that he can, so that’s the end of that. So, therefore, the most powerful judge in the United States sees no reason to intervene and certainly sees no reason to answer any questions about it, despite the highest-ranking Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asking him to do that. I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting. As noted in my letter to Chairman Durbin last April, apart from ceremonial events, only on rare occasions in our Nation's history has a sitting Chief Justice met with legislators, even in a public setting (such as a Committee hearing) with members of both major political parties present. Separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances. In Roberts’ version of the Constitution, it clearly states that the legislative branch of government—which confirms the appointment of members of the judicial branch of government, like Roberts himself—actually has nothing to do with the judicial branch of government. Roberts has yet to make his special version of the Constitution available to anyone, including Democratic senators. But here’s the real kicker, where Roberts makes clear he’s as much a partisan hack as his buddy Alito. Moreover, the format proposed—a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed an interest in matters currently pending before the Court — simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable. In other words, since Senate Republicans have no interest in investigating the corruption of Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court, Roberts doesn’t consider the request of the chair of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, and his fellow Democrat-therefore-not-really-reason-enough colleague Richard Blumenthal sufficient. So, where does that leave us? Despite all the polite requests from Democrats that the Supreme Court police itself, two justices have now said quite explicitly they will not. Perhaps—just spitballing here—Democrats, who, contrary to Roberts’ secret Constitution, absolutely do have the right and authority to ask questions of the judicial branch and even impeach and remove its corrupt members, should stop asking nicely and take it upon themselves to do something. Campaign Action