At a recent conference, I invoked Theodore Roosevelt's famous criticism of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. to describe Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett: "I could carve a judge with more backbone out of a banana."
Of course, TR's criticism of Holmes was hyperbolic, and a bit unfair. Holmes had survived being shot twice during the Civil War, and developed a distinctive judicial philosophy of restraint. But this aphorism, a century later, still has some appeal.
Is it a fair descriptor of the Court's middle three Justices? Yes and no. (For a refresher, I wrote an essay on Judicial Courage.)
