John Roberts’ Long Game

Sam Baker: “Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is not the revolutionary that conservative activists want him to be. He moves slower than they want, sides with liberals more than they want, and trims his sails in ways they find maddening. But he is still deeply and unmistakably conservative, pulling the law to the right — at his own pace and in his own image.”

“Roberts is not turning into a liberal. The law either stays put or moves to the right almost every time he is in the majority, even when it’s a majority with the more liberal justices.”

“But he has a lifetime appointment, a strong sense that it’s his duty to preserve public trust in the court, and his own ideas about how to do that. Roberts’ position as the court’s only real potential swing vote gives him the power to dictate not just bottom-line outcomes, but also how the court gets there.”