Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has been left “shaken” by the unexpected public reaction to his ruling in the Donald Trumppresidential immunity case, a columnist wrote Friday.

Slate’s judicial writer Dahlia Lithwick wrote that Roberts was left shocked that Americans didn’t buy his attempt to persuade them that his ruling was not about Trump, but instead focused on the office of the presidency. The court ruled that a president was largely immune from criminal prosecution for official actions.

Lithwick referenced a report by CNN’s Joan Biskupic. He “was shaken by the adverse public reaction to his decision affording [Donald] Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution," she wrote.

"His protestations that the case concerned the presidency, not Trump, held little currency.”

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    20 days ago

    Unexpected? How the fuck is backlash about a ruling saying the President is above the law unexpected?

    • Myxomatosis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      20 days ago

      For real. He’s either being completely disingenuous or he’s really that much of an oblivious asshole.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        20 days ago

        Unbelievably, he managed to underestimate the political awareness of the US public to his office. The bar was already on the floor.

      • sorval_the_eeter@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        19 days ago

        Trump was an epiphany for the right wingers that no one is really held to account and our checks and balances systems barely work at all, while also shielding government officials from public lawsuits. The Leahy laws are being broken to the extreme right now and no one cares in congress, which is the only body empowered to question the president’s actions in any way. and you can do crazy crimes in congress and you wont get voted out. Your own party will always clear you of it.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    20 days ago

    He’s an out of touch rich asshole. I’m less surprised at his shock than I am surprised by him giving a fuck.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      19 days ago

      He wasn’t shocked and he doesn’t give a f***. The article is just an attempt for him to garner sympathy.

  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    20 days ago

    He should be. There is no way that the constitution had immunity in mind for the president. George Washington would be flipping some tables in the supreme court if he was alive.

    • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 days ago

      The fact that the Supreme Court gave themselves the ability to effectively unilaterally write federal laws with Marbury v Madison was already massively overstepping bounds and the concept of checks and balances.

      We need to overturn Marbury v Madison.

  • leadore@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    20 days ago

    Maybe this columnist thinks he’s “shaken”, but I doubt it. The reason he acted in a more moderate way before was that the Christian Nationalist justices didn’t have a strong majority and the ability to impose their agenda with impunity. The minute they had a 6-3 majority, he knew they could do whatever they wanted, and they have.

    The only thing we can do about it now is elect as many Dems as possible to the House and Senate and pressure them to impose term limits and expand the Court, things that should have been done a long time ago.

    And please, regardless of whether you think your vote for POTUS will count, vote anyway and fill out your full ballot because you have much more influence on your State legislature and local offices, which is where so many things that affect your life are decided.

    • KnitWit@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 days ago

      Every single time the SC does something outrageous some version of this article comes out proclaiming his deep held belief in justice and whatever else. And every time it is complete bullshit.

      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        19 days ago

        It’s like some journalists fucking fanfic desperately wishing that these people’s consciouses are eating them up inside. Meanwhile they go home to their mansions and continue to happily live their comfortable lives. It’s not even that they know they won’t face consequences for their actions (which they won’t), it’s that they think they have done nothing wrong at all. They believe themselves to be morally in the right.

        “Shaken”? Don’t kid yourself. He’s as content and happy as a pig in shit.

  • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    20 days ago

    He doesn’t fear enough.

    Assuming I believe anything he says in the first place. We are so divided that he won’t see consequences.

  • Wrench@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    20 days ago

    Shaken?! SHAKEN?

    Like like the women of America were shaken when their rights to bodily autonomy were taken from them?

    Or like when the American people were shaken when they discovered that our nation’s checks and balanced were completely corrupted? That they will do nothing to stop a dictatorship and the end of democracy?

    Or shaken by the knowledge that the highest court in the country is colluding with the lower courts to bring specific cases through the appeals systems so they can make predetermined rulings, effectively writing their own laws and subverting the basic foundation of law in our country?

    Shaken. Yeah, go fuck yourself Roberts.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 days ago

      When I hear shaken I think of a teenage fanfic author when someone disregards the potential of the hypothetical love triangle they invented between characters the author clearly intended not to be in one.

  • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    20 days ago

    He’s not serious. Roberts is an arch conservative and has been for a long time. This is posturing to try and paint himself as a moderate, like he has been doing since before he was appointed to the bench. Fuck him.

    • karashta@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 days ago

      “You mean my radical and insane interpretations of the law are insane and radical?”.

      Yeah, he fucking knows and is a piece of shit like the rest of these disingenuous monsters

    • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 days ago

      How could he possibly have been surprised by the response? They are with 9 judges. Three vehemently disagreed with the ruling and even Barret partially disagreed. It’s not like he was looking for some compromise ruling that all judges signed onto. Pathetic reporting.

      • krashmo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        20 days ago

        None of that is true in any way. They are a relevant, useful, very much still in use, tool for conservatives to undermine democracy. I don’t understand why you chose a single one of those descriptors.