Johnny On the Spot

The smoke has cleared, and the dust is now settling on John Roberts' first term as Chief Justice of the Supremes. Turns out, the boy is a fine writer! Professors everywhere are rejoicing in Roberts' "elegant" use of "economy" in his opinions, while the blogosphere remains unimpressed with his use of sports analogies, from boxing to hockey.

What we may have here is authentic competency coupled with a hidden, personal system of fairness that should expose itself as the years go by. How much and how often Johnny decides to let us in on his secret self remains a mystery - a Mystery For the Pages!

In "His Hipness, John G. Roberts," Linda Greenhouse writes (from NYTimes, July 9, 2006):

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Prof. Akhil Amar of Yale Law School praised the Roberts style for "elegance and economy" as well as for the "occasionally snappy line" that could crystallize a case for lay readers. He gave two examples. One was a majority opinion that rejected the government's application of federal narcotics law to stop a Brazil-based religious group from importing a hallucinogenic tea for use in its rituals. "The government's argument echoes the classic rejoinder of bureaucrats throughout history: If I make an exception for you, I'll have to make one for everybody, so no exceptions," the chief justice wrote.

The second was a majority opinion that found that the state of Arkansas had denied due process to a homeowner by seizing and selling his house for nonpayment of property taxes without taking reasonable steps to notify him of his jeopardy. Referring to Gary K. Jones, the homeowner, Chief Justice Roberts wrote: "In response to the returned form suggesting that Jones had not received notice that he was about to lose his property, the state did — nothing."

Full article here.

Copyright 2006, The New York Times Co. All rights reserved. Used here for contextual purposes only.

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As you can see, this early in Roberts' Chief JusticeDom, it's hard to tell: Is he a peyote chewin' dude who steps up for the little guy between 'shrooms? Or, is he a complex individual who may not follow The Boy & The Dick's cartoonish agenda of stripping individuals of their rights while telling the world that "they hate us for our freedom."

I suspect that JohnnyOnTheSpot may turn out to be a thoughtful, and believe it or not, somewhat flexible Chief Justice. I can't say that I see any real evidence of the imposition of a rigid sense of morality on his decision-making process, but hell, I'm a layman, not a doktor, Jim! What we may have here is a firewall between the Thomas-Alito "well, whatever the prez wants, he gets" Stance of the Spineless, and the dark, demonic one - Scalia. That leaves the "liberal" Justices with the real power to build consensus within the Court. It points to the possibility of balance. It may actually prove to help undo the right-wing steamroller now paving its way over generations of decisions made on behalf of Americans everywhere. So, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm not raging against the machine either. I think I'll just hide here in the weeds for awhile.