Roberts's Early Court Agenda: A Study in Disappointment

 The aspiration of Chief Justice John Roberts, to preserve the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as a venerated institution and to safeguard the credibility of its decisions, has been seriously undermined by the majority of justices currently serving on the Court. Chief Justice Roberts's disappointment can be traced to two overarching factors.

The conservative justices, despite their earlier assurances, have abandoned their respect for precedent, a practice which is the essence and the bedrock of any worthy judicial system. That same conservative majority also ignores the time-honored mandate of the Court, to decide only issues raised by the litigants and to decide them as narrowly as practicable. 

This Court has an obvious agenda which it pursues by reaching out for issues beyond the scope of cases being considered, the very essence of judicial activism, and then promulgates decisions that unnecessarily overturn firmly rooted constitutional protections.

When the public perceives that the Court's decisions are detached from enduring legal principles and seem only to reflect the political preferences of individual justices, respect for the Court is shattered and the rule of law is put in dire danger.