If the Roberts Court Was Around in the Middle of the 20th Century: Segregation Forever!

A very long time ago, I read some history about the runup to Brown v.Board of Ed. You may recall that was the case which first tossed out segregation.

The way the NAACP and others got there was by case after case, each demonstrating that "separate by equal" was in nowise equal. In each case, the Supremes tried to fix the issue at hand. Finally, it got to the point where it became obvious that there was no way to fix "equal," that the segregationists would not comply in good faith. So the Court sucked it up and tossed out Plessy for good.

And don't forget that it was the Suprme Court in the second Nixon term which made him turn over the tapes.

Neither would have happened in the current day. The Supremes are guided by ideology, not by such things as statutes or precedent. They decide what they want to have happen and then they twist the law and the facts to reach their desired outcome. If the Roberts Court were riflemen, they would shoot at a blank wall and draw circles around the bullet holes. Like this joke:

One of the best marksmen in the FBI was passing through a small town. Everywhere he saw evidences of the most amazing shooting. On trees, on walls, and on fences there were numerous bull's-eyes with the bullet hole in dead center. The FBI man asked one of the townsmen if he could meet the person responsible for this wonderful marksmanship. The man turned out to be the village idiot. "This is the best marksmanship I have ever seen," said the FBI man. "How in the world do you do it?" "Nothing to it," said the idiot. "I shoot first and draw the circles afterward."

So if the Roberts Court was around back in the day, we'd still be dealing with segregation and Nixon would have finished out his term. He is going to go down as one of the worst Chief Justices since the Civil War, if not of all time.

What I don't know, as others have have stated, is how a law school professor teaches Constitutional Law in the era of the Roberts Court. There is no legal principle underlying their decisions, only political and ideological ones. It'll all get twisted to fit. For them, 2+2=3, if the value of 3 can be twisted. Or, to put it another way: Might makes right.

Which is a very long way of say that, as the Spremes start this term, don't expect anything from them other than decisions which conform to right-wing ideology. And, of course, more stories about Thomas's "legal" corruption and grifting.