Joe Angelillo

Guest Columnist

Joe Angelillo is a history major studying constitutional history at Rhodes College.

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision blocking the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census, President Trump seems to think that Chief Justice John Roberts is, “lined up against him.”

Should anyone pay this claim any credence? Does the Chief Justice bear some concealed animosity towards Trump?

Well, the Court’s actions, defined by Roberts, may provide reason for the President to believe so.

Facing intense scolding from conservatives

The Chief had a notable swing moment at the conclusion of this term. Despite expectations to the contrary, Roberts joined the more liberal justices in sustaining a lower court’s blocking the census change.

While he clarified that the Trump administration’s adding the question to the Census does not violate the Constitution, he took an action which perhaps proves more foreboding to the President.

In his opinion, Roberts criticized the Administration’s rationale for adding a census question, calling it inadequately explained and “contrived.” This lack of sound reasoning, Roberts wrote, justified the lower court’s decision to block the question.

In essence, the Chief Justice told the Administration that their explanation would not cut it and accused the Secretary of Commerce of deceit.

A citizenship question will not appear on the 2020 Census. The President has Chief Justice Roberts’s openly doubting the Administration’s rationale to thank for this. Does this lend credence to the belief that the Chief is feuding with the President?

Perhaps; just a year ago, Roberts ruled in favor of the President by sustaining his travel ban. In doing so, he wrote an opinion emphasizing substantial deference to the executive branch. A mere one year later, Roberts ruled against the Trump administration, calling it on an “incongruent” justification for the proposed Census change.

Roberts rebukes the president for partisan language

As unlikely as “angry Chief Justice denies President his citizenship question” sounds, the Court’s last term provided more evidence that Roberts might be growing wary of the 45th president.

Following Trump’s labeling of a circuit judge as an “Obama judge” in December of last year, Roberts openly rebuked the President, stating that, “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.” Such a response, especially coming from an individual as closely guarded and tight-lipped as the 17th chief justice, drew mass media attention and a tweet in response from the President.

While one can certainly draw varying conclusions from the Court’s recent opinions, this event was most certainly a flashpoint between the heads of the executive and judicial branches.

Taken together, do these events signal some growing rift between Chief Justice Roberts and President Trump? In all likelihood, we will never know for sure. Roberts is perhaps the most closely guarded of the current justices, so his personal feelings towards Donald Trump will likely remain his secret. However, this reserved attitude makes his comments rebuking the President all the more intriguing.

Further, his ruling against the Administration, a mere one year after ruling in favor of it, perhaps indicates that the Chief does not show complete allegiance to the President.

If not exposing a definite feud, does the recent ruling signal a shift in the Roberts’ jurisprudence, away from Trump? Probably not. Roberts is regarded as a reliable conservative vote on the Supreme Court, especially in matters of race and regulatory law, and will likely continue to rule in favor of a conservative administration. His swing moments are few and far between; he is certainly not the salvation of the Democrats.

However, if this term shows us anything, it is that the President cannot always count on John Roberts, for he is no pawn of the Republican Party.

Joe Angelillo is a history major studying constitutional history at Rhodes College.

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