John Glover Roberts has been the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court since September 29, 2005. He just passed his 10th anniversary in the job.
During his televised confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was sworn in by Committee Chairman Senator Arlen Spector (Pennsylvania) to answer questions from the committee members.
SPECTER: Judge Roberts, if you would now stand, please. The protocol calls for your swearing in at this point. We may revise our procedures to swear you in at the start of the proceeding, if you should come back.
If you would raise your right hand, and they’ve asked me to do this slowly, because this is their one photo op.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give before this Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
ROBERTS: I do.
Nominee John Roberts, under oath, in his opening statement offered his famously earnest analogy of the judge as neutral umpire
Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules.
But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.
Look at the Video of John Roberts
Read the delightful commentary by Bruce Weber in the New York Times from 2009.
Conservatives were pleased as punch with George Bush’s appointment of Rogers. Their admiration soured and turned to scorn after the Roberts Court twice rejected challenges to The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in 2012 and again in 2015 which had been strongly backed by conservative interests. Roberts himself wrote both decisions, which were decided by a vote of 6-3. Conservative discontent turned to fury when the Roberts-led Court decided to strike down state bans against gay marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges), even though Roberts dissented from the 5-4 Court majority. The Chief Justice has been branded a liar and a traitor by former supporters.
Conservatives don’t much care for neutral judicial umpires
Paul Davis Ryan (R-Wisconsin) was elected by his Republican colleagues to succeed John Boehner (R-Ohio) as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on October 29, 2015, almost exactly 10 years after John Roberts joined the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ryan was the Republican nominee for Vice-President in 2012. He is now also the Chairman of the Republican Convention to be held in Cleveland during July 2016.
Fox News reports today:
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday it’s looking “more likely” the Republican Party will face an open convention in July – meaning, a floor fight to pick a nominee – and that Donald Trump and the party might want to accept that “reality.”
Ryan discussed the possibility with reporters as he noted he’s the chairman of the convention and will have to “bone up on all the rules.” He openly acknowledged that – even as Trump puts away another round of primary victories – a convention where no candidate has reached the necessary 1,237 delegates could actually happen this year.
“Nothing has changed other than the perception that this is more likely to become an open convention than we thought before,” Ryan said. “So, we’re getting our minds around the idea that this could very well become a reality, and therefore those of us who are involved in the convention need to respect that.”
Bloomberg news expands on Ryan’s duties and role as head of the convention.
“My goal is to be dispassionate, and to be Switzerland,” Ryan said Thursday. “And to make sure that the delegates make their decision however the rules require them to do that.”
The chairman of the Republican convention is traditionally the top House Republican leader, who manages the convention under the rules of the House.
A description provided by Ryan’s office notes the chairman typically opens and closes the convention and signs nominating documents for all states and territories. The chairman also is the presiding officer over the actual roll call vote for the nomination for president and vice president. The document says the chairman is “not necessarily at all involved in any negotiating if no one receives a majority after the first ballot.”
There are other dangers out there for Ryan, he said, including misunderstandings about his role, or unintentional slights or controversies over the chairman not recognizing some of those asking for recognition on the floor, or cutting them off.
The House rules are more restrictive on the rights of individuals, giving the convention chairman authority to recognize whom he pleases. Few people, unless they have served in the Congress or served on staff, have a understanding of those rules.
Ryan has already publicly described his convention role as to be Switzerland. Ryan has begun seeking to bolster his neutrality status. He has promptly taken his own name out of the running as a possible compromise candidate for a stalled convention, even though he was chosen as Republican nominee for Vice-President in 2012.
Swiss national neutrality was a complex and tangled political balancing act during both World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). The small Swiss nation maintained a political posture of “armed neutrality.” In 1939 the country began to mobilize itself against a foreign invasion. The German military command drew up detailed invasion plans for Switzerland, but never carried them out.
During both World Wars, Switzerland was able to remain independent through a combination of military deterrence, economic concessions to Germany, and good fortune as larger events during the war delayed an invasion. Still, Switzerland was of considerable interest to all parties involved, as the scene for diplomacy, espionage, commerce, and as a safe haven for refugees.
Paul Ryan’s role as Convention Chairman may be a lot more like the real Swiss “armed neutrality” than he intended with his breezy analogy.
As for Trump, the substance of his advice on the Supreme Court has been largely limited to the following:
“If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly try to nominate a justice,” Trump explained. “I hope our Senate, Mitch and the entire group will be able to do something about it.”
“This is a tremendous blow to conservatism and frankly to our country,” he added. “I think it’s up to Mitch to McConnell and everybody to stop it. It’s called delay, delay, delay.”
Trump Wisdom and presidential demeanor on display. The debate audience cheered loudly.
As for Paul Ryan, Trump has some more direct comments, starting on March 1:
“Paul Ryan, I’m sure I’m going to get along great with him,” Trump said. “And if I don’t, he’s going to have to pay a big price. Okay?”
“I don’t know Paul Ryan well, but I hope to be able to get along with him. I do know Mitch McConnell a little bit, but I hope to be able to get along with him,” Trump said, referring to the Senate majority leader. “But remember this: I have millions and millions and millions of people. This isn’t like it’s a close match.”
Today, Trump has laid out his position on the Republican convention process, or more properly, announced his warning threats, in multiple phone-in calls to morning TV shows:
Denying him the GOP nomination as part of a contested convention, he declared, would “disenfranchise” the millions of people he is bringing into the party and could spark riots.
“I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re 100 short and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically. I think it would be — I think you’d have riots,” Trump told CNN’s “New Day.”
“Now, if you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen,” he said.
Trump has thundered out from Olympus (relocated to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago, presumably). Remember, these verbal bolts are thrown at the current U.S. House Speaker, the highest ranking elected Republican official in America, by a man who has never been elected to anything and hasn’t been nominated by anybody. In circumstances other than the current chaotic political climate, a person saying such things in a serious vein might be required to receive medical (mental health) care.
Ryan’s chances of remaining neutral at the upcoming Republican Convention are about as great as that John Roberts will regain his stature with conservative court watchers. Before the end of the convention on Thursday night ,July 21, 2016 , Paul Ryan may wish he had obtained a professional quality catcher’s mask, chest protector, and shin guards from a reputable sporting goods supplier, as well as a plane ticket to Switzerland as an “armed neutral.”
Ex-House Speaker John Boehner made a casual remark on Thursday that he would like to see Ryan as the presidential nominee versus none of the above.
Ryan also tried to tamp down speculation he might be put forward as an eleventh-hour alternative to front-runner Trump. This, after ex-Speaker John Boehner made an off-the-cuff comment that he’d back Ryan if Republicans are stymied on choosing one of the three remaining candidates.
Ryan said Thursday he’s essentially told Boehner to “knock it off.”
Ryan disclosed he had actually employed saltier language than that, just like the terms Boehner himself used to use in leadership meetings in the House. Payback is a beautiful thing.
The odds-on best political job in the country right now belongs to immediate past U.S. House Speaker John Boehner who lives at his real home, plays golf when he wants to, and is neither House Speaker nor a sitting Congressman from Ohio. The man has vision.
The rest of the country is in for a crushing headache and a rough ride.
Baseball Immortal Jackie Robinson Safe at Home (From Bruce Weber)