Chief Justice John Roberts is the undisputed master of writing opinions that say a lot and a little at the same time. The chief excels at offering broad statements of principle that make perfect sense in the abstract yet become harder to parse the more you search for guidance in the details. So it was with
, Roberts’ 6–3 decision on Tuesday rejecting the “independent state legislature” theory devised to subvert voting rights.—which united Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett with the three liberals—firmly quashed this nefarious idea. And in doing so, it affirmed the constitutionality of important reforms, like citizen-led redistricting commissions, that seemed imperiled by the court’s hard-right turn.
his own court’s latitude to rein in state judiciaries that the court’s conservative majority might determine go too far beyond the bounds of state election law.How far, exactly? Who knows? That’s the magic and the madness of the chief justice’s approach to judging, which tempers deeply held conservative beliefs with strategic pragmatism and ideological flexibility. It’s an acquired taste, to be sure.