Supreme Justice Brown ain’t Happy about the Voting Rights Law Decision

In Pennsylvania earlier this month, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. insisted the public is misguided to think of Supreme Court justices as political actors.

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As the justices have traveled the country this month for public appearances, a traditional part of the court’s schedule after finishing oral arguments for the term, they have seemed intensely aware of a public debate about their relationships with each other and the court’s own legitimacy.

“It is so important for the public to perceive us as neutral, nonpartisan,” because “public confidence is really all the judiciary has. That’s our currency,” Justice Jackson said during a wide-ranging conversation with a federal judge from South Carolina at the American Law Institute’s annual meeting in Washington.

“It’s incumbent upon us to do things, to act in ways that shore up public confidence.”

Justice Jackson’s comments hint at what appear to be frayed relations among some of the justices as the court prepares to issue its final rulings, many in deeply consequential cases, before the term ends in late June or early July.

The tensions come as the court is being pummeled with criticism from across the political spectrum. President Trump is still fuming on social media over the court’s decision to invalidate his sweeping tariffs and musing about the likelihood of a major ruling against his effort to end the guarantee of birthright citizenship….

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At a very basic level, people think we’re making policy decisions,” Chief Justice Roberts said. “I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.”

Justice Barrett made a similar point during a book talk at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

“I think the casual reader about the Supreme Court or its decisions might have the impression we’re just kind of up there, politicians in robes. That’s not how the court functions, and I think if you listen to some oral arguments, you see what the court’s about,” she said.

The decision in the [Voting Rights Redisiticting] Louisiana matter was 6 to 3 and divided along ideological lines, as is frequently the case in the most controversial rulings….

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That prompted a strong response from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who called Justice Jackson’s assertions “a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge.” He was joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch.

It has been Justice Jackson who has been most willing to criticize the court, increasingly alone. On Monday, she offered anew a sharp critique of her conservative colleagues’ handling of a series of brief emergency orders that have allowed many of the Trump administration’s policies to take effect on a temporary basis….

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