r/politics • u/theindependentonline The Independent • 1d ago

No Paywall Trump’s ballroom construction ‘likely unlawful,’ John Roberts says, but Supreme Court will allow it anyway

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ballroom-construction-unlawful-john-roberts-b3042329.html
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186

u/SeminoleDVM Virginia 1d ago edited 1d ago

Roberts doesn’t seem like a stupid person. I wonder sometimes if he stays awake a night considering the legacy that awaits him after he’s gone.

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u/Back2theGarden 1d ago

He must be one of those upright-seeming people who are, in fact, deeply corrupt. Possibly as bad as Thomas but a lot more elegant about it.

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u/Imaginary_Scene2493 South Carolina 1d ago

His wife makes tons of money recruiting lawyers for firms that practice in front of SCOTUS.

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u/Back2theGarden 1d ago

That's right. I forgot that.

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u/AcidRohnin 1d ago

Most likely that is the case. He probably doesn’t care. He doing ok, his family most likely is as well. They are rich and probably even more so now. Why would he care.

I mean if he critically thought some he might rationalize a bit about how this prob isn’t helping his kids and future family, but he either doesn’t care as he will be long dead, or if he helps keep the pony show going they can also benefit the same way in the future.

If how far you go in life is all about networking, then if you keep that network alive and better yet allow it to grow, you and your family will be set for the foreseeable future. This seems to be what most elected officials are doing, whether consciously or not.

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u/Kamala-Harris 19h ago

I respectfully disagree. If you're Roberts, with infinite money and current Chief Justice to SCOTUS, the thing you become obsessed with is your legacy. His legacy is absolutely being trashed by the current iteration of the Court and I think that it definitely is something he's less-than-thrilled about. However, he's one vote and the Republican Justices have made clear that they're going to vote how they're going to vote, regardless of anything else. Hell, when it looked like they might cave to the realities of... reality, they leaked the initial draft opinion to 'lock in' all the votes.

If how far you go in life is all about networking, then if you keep that network alive and better yet allow it to grow, you and your family will be set for the foreseeable future. This seems to be what most elected officials are doing, whether consciously or not.

Though this I agree with -- everyone is trying to 'get theirs' regardless of how adversely their actions run against the collective good.

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u/FellowHumanNo404 9h ago

I respectfully disagree. If you're Roberts, with infinite money and current Chief Justice to SCOTUS, the thing you become obsessed with is your legacy. His legacy is absolutely being trashed by the current iteration of the Court and I think that it definitely is something he's less-than-thrilled about.

Roberts' ultimate goal is to return the U.S. to monarchy. That is the legacy he is dedicated to achieving: he is a literal monarchist. By that standard, he probably thinks he's doing very well so far.

He would probably be happier if the president were a devout catholic, though.

His greatest source of discomfort is probably the lack of what he would consider an appropriately large amount of popular adulation for his dedication to his holy cause.

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u/superxpro12 20h ago

He's gonna be mentioned in the same breath as dred Scott, brown v board, and plessy v Ferguson.

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u/WhollyHolyHoley 18h ago

Or… He is in those Epstein files.

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u/Bulbasauruses 1d ago

He is a multimillionaire living out his life as one of the most powerful people in the country.

I don’t think he gives a shit what anyone thinks of him, because he is basically untouchable and wants for nothing. None of these people believe in anything except money and power. If they did, they wouldn’t be conservatives.

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u/kittyonkeyboards 15h ago

I think we should make him want for his third square meal a day in a box and only give him two.

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u/FellowHumanNo404 9h ago

None of these people believe in anything except money and power.

They also want to be celebrated, but only as long as they don't have to sacrifice money and power to receive it.

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u/syndactyl_sapiens 1d ago edited 1d ago

“I wonder sometimes if he stays awake at night…”

May his pillow always be warm side up.

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u/flexbuffstrong 1d ago

Zero chance. Dude sleeps soundly and I’m guessing he sits around basking in the smell of his own farts.

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u/nobadhotdog 1d ago

he doesn't care. rudy guliani however that fuck spells his shit name, said once that he doesn't believe in an afterlife so when he dies reality ceases to exist so why does he care what happens. Roberts lives in luxury and prestige, do you honestly think he gives a flying fuck what some rando or even his close friends think about the shit he does?

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u/jreed66 1d ago

If i thought he would read it, then I would send him a reminder every single day. It does make me wonder why there isn't a single pundit that will remind him.

In fact this headline should read: John Roberts further degrades his already tarnished legacy

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u/thecloudcities 1d ago

He dissented in the case. He’s screwed up lots in the past, but he was on the correct side on this one.

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u/Valturia 1d ago

Nah he doesn't.

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u/Isnlifefunny1 1d ago

I mean, he dissented alongside the liberals on this one. It was the other 5 who voted to allow it. We can thank RBG for not even having a swing vote.

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u/Delicious-Day-3614 1d ago

Don't forget Mitch. RBG didnt help, and actively hurt the situation, but Mitch did far more damage on his way out the door. Which, I have utter contempt for a geriatric who refuses to leave the halls of power until they become a vegetable. That is gerontocracy and it is a poor substitute for a healthy democracy.

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u/Isnlifefunny1 1d ago

Oh for sure, but as I said to another response are we supposed to be mad at the snakes for biting us? Of course not, because it's just their nature. RBG on the other hand should have been intelligent enough to know her time was up. That's her legacy now.

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u/hackingdreams 22h ago

We can thank RBG for not even having a swing vote.

Yeah, you think McConnell would have allowed Obama to replace RBG too? Or would he have just bogarted two Supreme Court justices from his administration?

Perhaps it's time to stop pretending it's RBG's fault that McConnell broke the Senate Confirmation system.

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u/Successful_Log_3298 22h ago

There was a short window in 2014 where Democrats still controlled the Senate before the next Congress was seated. It was anticipated by summer of that year that Ds would lose the Senate in the 2014 midterms and Obama gently tried to get her to retire but she refused, because nobody was better than she was. She really thought that.

It would have made very little difference in most of the important cases, which have been 6-3, but it could have helped occasionally.

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u/Round_Rice_9475 21h ago

Sounds like toxic femanism to me

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u/Successful_Log_3298 19h ago

No, just an individual with a very high regard for herself. She was indeed very, very good at it, but nobody is irreplaceable. Nobody can be irreplaceable.

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u/DocLego 21h ago

She could have retired while democrats controlled the senate.

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u/Isnlifefunny1 22h ago

Lol no fuzu.

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u/thecloudcities 1d ago

Republicans have agency. RBG is not responsible for Republicans deciding that they’ll hold a seat open for a year, nor is she responsible for them deciding that actually they can fill a seat in a matter of weeks. That’s 100% on them.

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u/Isnlifefunny1 1d ago

That too, but that's like acting like a scorpion won't sting you. RBG knew she'd already battled cancer and should have been smart enough to step down. If she were then Trump's ballroom would have got shut down this go round.

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u/ForensicPathology 21h ago

If there was one more liberal on the court, Roberts wouldn't have joined the dissent.

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u/Isnlifefunny1 21h ago

Maybe not.

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u/InfoBarf 1d ago

The rules of this website restrict me from detailing how I hope the world remembers him.

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u/mountaindoom 1d ago

I hope he at least doesn't feel safe in public.

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u/CD_4M 23h ago

None of the SC Justice’s are stupid, in fact they’re all almost certainly extremely intelligent

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u/Careless-Cake-9360 23h ago

Even Brett Kavanaugh?

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u/steemSTEM 22h ago

Hes not stupid either. He certainly likes to pretend he is tho.

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u/thepvbrother 22h ago

He voted with the dissent in this case. I mean you're not wrong in general but in this particular case he can sleep tight.

We should have a sleep-tight ranking for each justice based on their decisions, writings, and speeches. Who can sleep the tightest with an untroubled conscience. And I mean from a constitutional standpoint, not a moral one.

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u/hackingdreams 22h ago

I wonder sometimes if he stays awake a night considering the legacy that awaits him after he’s gone.

Yeah he gave up on that when they dumped so much money in his bedroom that he literally swims in it at night.

He'll forever be known as the most corrupt man on the Supreme Court during the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States, and that's just his legacy.

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u/31LIVEEVIL13 22h ago

⚡️💺⚡️

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u/HurriKurtCobain 22h ago

In this case, at least, he was in the right. He dissented, he cast a vote in favor of halting the ballroom with the lib justices.

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u/_disengage_ 21h ago

He's a white supremacist. He sleeps well, dreaming of lynchings.

1

u/loglighterequipment California 21h ago

I have this theory that he actually is a stupid person.

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u/tackle_bones 16h ago

It’s really this simple - he believes this shit. He was subjected to the cultural revolution, and he took that personally.

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u/kittyonkeyboards 15h ago

I think we should punish him for his actions before he gets to leave this mortal plane naturally.

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u/joshdoereddit America 10h ago

I think a lot of them aren't as stupid as they might appear. It's hard to tell sometimes. On one hand you have Roberts, who has tact. Then, there's people like Ted Cruz and Vance. They went to good schools, but they're cartoons.

•

u/hemorrhoids_of_jesus 5h ago

I would actually argue, after looking into his career and the decisions he’s been attached to, that he is stupid - at least in two ways.

1) he’s stupid in that he’s crafting the legal theory that will render himself useless/powerless

2) he is unable to consider his own legacy

So yeah, he might be one of the dumbest people in existence right now 

1

u/Obvious-Science-7119 1d ago

He possibly flew an upside down flag and then his behind his wife.

1

u/skarekroh 23h ago

You’re confusing Roberts and Alito.