What's going on with Justice Roberts? Democrats worried too

FPI / July 2, 2020

Democrats are worried that the move to the Left by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be good for the Trump campaign as it spotlights the importance of President Donald Trump appointing more conservative justices as aging liberals retire, radio host Rush Limbaugh pointed out.

On Monday, the Supreme Court on declared unconstitutional a Louisiana law requiring that individuals who perform abortions at clinics have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital. Roberts joined the court’s liberal wing and cast the deciding vote in a 5-4 ruling overturning Louisiana’s Unsafe Abortion Protection Act.

Roberts "joined the four lockstep Democrat justices whose job on the court is much different than the conservatives," Limbaugh noted. "The liberal judges just make sure they come down on the correct agenda side of every case to advance the leftist cause, to advance liberalism, whatever. It doesn’t matter how they get there; that is the objective."

Limbaugh noted that Roberts is a "Never Trumper, and he does what he can as a Never Trumper on the bench. The other side of the theory, however, is fascinating."

Limbaugh went to an audio sound bite of CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who says “something is going on with [Justice] Roberts. Louisiana passes a law that’s almost identical to the Texas law, and here Roberts switched places because, he says, 'Stare Decisis', the rule of precedent, requires that we honor the decision of a couple years ago even though I disagreed with it at the time.”

Toobin adds: "What that suggests is that Roe v. Wade may need one more justice from President Trump in order to win. Because if John Roberts feels this precedent needs to be honored, Roe v. Wade is an even more well-established precedent."

Limbaugh responded: "A-ha. So you see, they’re worried that this ruling from Roberts is going to revive and enhance the Trump campaign on the basis we now know Roberts cannot be depended on. He is not one of the conservative justices, and it’d be silly to count on him as such as the Supreme Court takes cases. Meaning Trump needs one more. Meaning there are going to be some retirements on the left side because of age alone."

Toobin "is very, very worried here that this is going to revive Trump’s campaign, it’s gonna revive Trump’s base, it’s gonna awaken some people who maybe are getting worn out with all the Trump drama," Limbaugh said. "I don’t know what percentage of Trump’s base that would apply to, but they’re clearly worried. They’re not celebrating this ruling as you would expect them to, folks. They normally… They’d be celebrating this!"

The Left is worried, Limbaugh said, "because, remember: There’s something more important right now than even Roe v. Wade — and you may not agree with me, but that something more important is getting rid of D.J. Trump. That, right now, is more important than abortion, ’cause they think they got abortion in the bag.

"They know it’s gonna take a number of cases before the Supreme Court to literally and actually overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s not gonna happen in one case. But if this ruling… Now, are they thinking that Roberts is a closet Trump supporter, and decided this case for the libs purposely to irritate the Trump base? (impression) 'You know, because Roberts is a smart guy. He may be the smartest guy (outside of Obama) in the Washington establishment. And therefore, he may know what’s necessary to revive the Trump base to the extent that it needs to be — or to fire them up even more,' and they’re worried about that."

They’re making the point "that this decision puts the Supreme Court back on the ballot, and they are worried about it," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh cited the CNN segment in which anchor Jim Sciutto said: "I am sure that somebody is already writing a Trump campaign ad on this right now saying, vote for me, I’ll bring you another justice."

Limbaugh said: "The reason why, ladies and gentlemen, this is, to me, of immense curiosity and importance, you go to back to the Trump rally in Tulsa. One of the telepromptered points that he made, which means that, you know, the campaign made sure certain messages — certain message points, if you will — were stated and emphasized by the president.

"That’s the purpose of the prompter during a campaign year at a Trump rally. Make sure you get these points made, if you’ve got four central messages you’re trying to get out there — three, whatever it is. And one of them was that the Supreme Court is gonna have an opening and how great Trump’s nominees have been to date and we need even more of them."

Trump also noted at the rally that by the end of his term this year there will have been 300 judges confirmed "and we need even more."

Limbaugh noted: "And you remember what the reaction to that was? There were people — learned academics, learned think tank pundits — who wrote that Trump was really botching it. 'Oh, my God. This isn’t 2016,' they said. 'You can’t run on replacing Scalia again. You can’t do that! You can’t! You gotta get with it. The 2016 playbook is not gonna fly here. This business of the Supreme Court and the importance of the nominees is not on people’s minds right now. What’s on their minds, is saving the country from the mob.' "

Limbaugh continued: "Well, now guess what? With this ruling today — and the ruling last week where Roberts again undermined Trump — the Left is very, very worried.

"They’re not celebrating. And it makes it look like Trump knew exactly what he was doing at his rally talking about the importance of the Supreme Court still, and the next nominee and perhaps the next nominee after that."

Free Press International