exemplified in its decision to overturn the constitutional right to #abortion on the basis of a vague & inconsistent standard of “text, history & tradition.”
& there is the hubris of ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts, who, the #legal scholar EricJSegall writes, has “led the court to coerce both state & federal govts to abide by his personal preferences, whether or not positive legal sources supported those decisions & at times even when prior #law …clearly did not justify the chief’s opinions & votes.”
It is a testament to #JohnRoberts’s skill as a #politician that he is often viewed as a modest & moderate #judicial institutionalist when, in fact, he has used his position on the court to spearhead a remarkable campaign of #judicial activism. In cases like #ShelbyCountyVHolder in 2013 & the more recent #WestVirginiaVEPA, Roberts all but deployed novel constitutional doctrines (“equal state sovereignty” & the “major questions doctrine”) to achieve his preferred results.