Roma, Aaronow and Tushnet on the Roberts Hearings

Ricky: “Uh, yes. Okay. The board.”
George: “I’m fucked on the board. I can’t– I can’t– See, I ca– My mind must be on other places, ’cause I can’t uh–“
Ricky: “What? You can’t do what?”
George: “I can’t close them.”
Ricky: “Well, they’re old. Look, look, look, look at this shit they’re giving you. Huh?”
George: “Yes.”
Ricky: “Huh?”
George: “They are old.”
Ricky: “They’re ancient.”
George: “Yeah, Clear–“
Ricky: “Clear Meadows! This shit’s dead.”
George: “It is dead.”
Ricky: “Waste of time.”
George: “Yes.”

If you prefer, a more specific argument:

The oracle at Delphi — or the oracles on “Angel” (in one episode the characters are quite contemptuous of the pointlessness of prophecies that mean whatever you want them to mean [and then turn out to mean something else]) — was no worse than Judge Roberts.

So, I take little comfort from the proposition that Judge Roberts is (a) an advocate of judicial restraint and an opponent of judicial activism, who believes (b) that the Supreme Court properly enforces constitutional limitations on legislative power. All the interesting work happens in the space between (a) and (b).

I actually did my duty and dutifully listened this morning, but I’m not sure why. (The CPSAN person is now saying that Republicans say Roberts went further than any nominee, while Democrats say that he said nothing. Very illuminating!) To summarize, Lauren, Roxanne and Kevin Drum are obviously right, and Armando is painfully naive. See also The Rude Pundit.

Also, I would like to bring out my post powerful argument against judicial supremacy in advance: a few more Republican Senators in the 80s, and Jeff Sessions would be on the federal bench. You could get better constitutional analysis from your local Tarot reader.