
John Roberts has enabled Trump. Now he hopes to restrain him
CNN
Once again, it comes down to John Roberts and Donald Trump.
Once again, it comes down to John Roberts and Donald Trump. It was Chief Justice Roberts, of course, who wrote last year’s Supreme Court decision giving then-candidate Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution. But in recent weeks, it also was Roberts who steered the court in its calibrated approach to litigation arising from President Trump’s orders overhauling government – refusing to give administration lawyers the quick endorsement they sought. Since 2017, when Trump began his first presidential term, Roberts has been both an enabler and a restraint on Trump’s agenda. After weeks of silence to Trump’s rants against the judiciary, Roberts was likely provoked on Tuesday by a heated post referring to a federal judge currently handling a migrant deportation case as “crooked.” Trump declared the judge “should be IMPEACHED!!!” Soon after, Roberts issued a statement: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.” For US district court judges, currently on the front lines of the Trump litigation, Roberts’ defense was heartening, if overdue.