John Roberts fancies himself as a very smart person. The Chief's confidence and erudition flows through his prose. Except when it doesn't. His 2024 year-end report has proven to be something of a Rorschach Test. He wrote "Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings. These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected." Who was he talking about?
In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus wrote that it was clearly J.D. Vance, primarily based on some free-flowing comments the Senate candidate made in 2021. The Wall Street Journal Editorial page wrote that Roberts was talking about Joe Biden:
The Chief mentioned no names, but we can, and look no further than President Biden. When the High Court blocked his $430 billion student loan forgiveness plan, the President said "the Supreme Court blocked it, but that didn't stop me." He boasted of forgiving even more debt despite lacking authority from Congress.
Mr. Biden also boasted of defying the Court's warning on his illegal eviction moratorium. He admitted that "the bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it's not likely to pass constitutional muster." But "by the time it gets litigated, it will probably give some additional time while we're getting that $45 billion out to people who are, in fact, behind in the rent and don't have the money."
