Leaked Memo Adds to Speculation About Justice Roberts’ Position on MAGA

Chief Justice John Roberts has long been seen as a moderate swing vote on the nation’s highest court. But a recently released memo he wrote to his fellow justices has renewed speculation that he may be further to the right of the aisle than previously thought. While Roberts doesn’t work directly with former President Donald Trump, the memo sheds light on how he could help shape the court to Trump’s liking.

The memo, obtained by The New York Times, expressed “frustration and certainty” and “offered a withering critique of the lower court’s decision and a surprising preview of how the high court will rule next,” the Times reported. Now, it has led to even more questions about the Supreme Court’s impartiality.

Roberts wrote the memo last February after Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt his criminal trial on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that he was protected by presidential immunity. Many scholars believed that would essentially make the president a king, but Roberts disagreed in his memo and “tore into the appellate court opinion that green-lighted Mr. Trump’s trial, calling it insufficient and poorly reasoned,” the Times said.

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Roberts “wrote not only that the Supreme Court should take up the case — which would delay the trial — but also how the justices should decide it,” the Times said. “We will likely view the separation of powers analysis differently” than the appeals court, sources said, Roberts said in the memo. He was right on that score, as the court ruled earlier this year that presidents are largely immune from prosecution for “official” actions while in office.

The Times also reported other alleged incidents suggesting a tie between Roberts and Trump. Last term, Roberts responded to three cases related to Jan. 6 by “using his authority to direct rulings favorable to Mr. Trump,” the Times said. The chief justice himself “wrote the majority opinions in all three cases,” including one finding that Trump “should not be disqualified from voting in Colorado’s election.”

Another incident involved Justice Samuel Alito, considered one of the court’s most conservative members. Roberts had previously assigned Alito to write the majority opinion in a separate case on Jan. 6, arguing that some rioters should not be charged. About a month later, Roberts took over writing the opinion himself. The change came after reports that Alito had flown an American flag, a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement, upside down over his home after Jan. 6. But “while the timing is suggestive,” it’s not certain that the events are related.

Roberts “was completely taken over by the cult of Donald Trump,” he told The Nation. The chief justice “wanted to make sure that Trump could run in this election, wanted to make sure that Trump avoided accountability for his many crimes, and wanted to grant Trump unprecedented immunity so that he could commit more crimes.” The cases show that Roberts had the potential to be a moderate but “instead chose to take hardline MAGA positions that gave Trump everything he wanted.”

But not everyone is convinced that Roberts is guilty. The leak is “a betrayal of trust that will affect the way justices do their jobs,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board said. The intent of the leak is “clearly to discredit the court as political and, in particular, to target its leader.” Most agree that the leak is “more evidence that the court is falling apart, but this time Roberts has no excuse for being the guardian of the Bedlam courtroom,” Esquire said. It’s still unclear how the news will affect the Supreme Court in the long run.

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Leaked Memo Adds to Speculation About Justice Roberts’ Position on MAGA

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