Chief Justice John Roberts may have angered conservatives with his decisive vote in favor of ObamaCare today, but he was, in CBS anchor Scott Pelley’s words, the “man of the hour” on all three network evening newscasts Thursday night.
ABC’s Terry Moran complimented Roberts’ lurch to the left, saying it “did give heart to many Court watchers,” who were worried the Court “was at risk of becoming just another hyper-partisan place... By joining the liberals, Chief Justice Roberts seemed to have stopped that.”
CBS’s Wyatt Andrews also had warm words for Roberts: “Yesterday, he was widely seen as another partisan on the court. Today, in the most dramatic case of John Roberts’ career, he changes, he breaks the mold.” That’s when Pelley chimed in: “The man of the hour.”
NBC legal correspondent Savannah Guthrie agreed: “He [Roberts] cares very much about the institution of the Court, the credibility of the Court, he has expressed a distaste for decisions that come down 5-to-4 against those predictable party lines.”
For good measure, NBC’s main report by Justice correspondent Pete Williams quoted the ubiquitous Supreme Court pundit Tom Goldstein, who instructed viewers on how they should approve of Roberts’ decision: “The fact that a conservative Republican-appointed Chief Justice wrote today’s opinion, joining with the court’s more liberal members would, and should, give Americans a lot of confidence in the decision, that it’s not just a political thing.”
Only CBS’s Andrews gave an on-camera interview to a conservative legal expert, Georgetown’s Randy Barnett, who uniquely suggested John Roberts was no hero: “If it turns out that Chief Justice Roberts did buckle under the intense political pressure that was brought to bear on him after this case was submitted, that will not be good for his legacy as a justice.”
All three broadcasts followed a similar pattern, focusing on the details of the Court decision, it’s effect on the campaign, plus the typical heart-rending stories about how ObamaCare, now safely certified by Roberts, will benefit regular people. ABC’s Diane Sawyer uniquely added a short history lesson celebrating how Obama’s health care bill is the culmination of a decades-long liberal quest:
But by far, the most noteworthy element of Thursday’s newscasts was the sudden respect that network reporters showed for Chief Justice Roberts, who has previously been criticized as part of the Court’s conservative block. Thanks to news analyst Matt Hadro, who stayed late into the evening here at MRC’s headquarters, here are some of the key exchanges:
# ABC’s World News:
This opinion did give heart to many Court watchers who’ve been concerned that this institution of government was at risk of becoming just another hyper-partisan place in American politics. By joining the liberals, Chief Justice Roberts seemed to have stopped that.
# CBS Evening News
WYATT ANDREWS: Almost every conservative scholar in the country is now asking, ‘What happened to the Chief Justice?’...Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett was among the first to argue the insurance mandate was unconstitutional. He’s surprised, because the Chief Justice struck down the key administration arguments defending the Affordable Care Act, but then went out of his way to approve the law under Congress’ power to tax.
BARNETT: As to why he decided to uphold the act under the tax power, to rewrite the law as a tax and say that it was constitutional, that’s something that only he really knows.
So what happened? Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSblog, a respected Web site on the court, says Roberts followed the law but knew he was making history. Where does this fit in the Roberts legacy?
TOM GOLDSTEIN: This is item number one. This is his signature statement that ‘I’m not a partisan. I’m here to provide a limited backstop against excesses by the Congress. And I don’t see it here.’
ANDREWS: To conservatives, this was a signature statement, just not the right one. (to Professor Barnett) What’s the chance he didn’t want to be the Chief Justice to overturn this big a law?
BARNETT: If it turns out that Chief Justice Roberts did buckle under the intense political pressure that was brought to bear on him after this case was submitted, that will not be good for his legacy as a justice.
ANDREWS: But there’s already no question this one case changes the John Roberts legacy, Scott. Yesterday, he was widely seen as another partisan on the court. Today, in the most dramatic case of the John Roberts career, he changes, he breaks the mold.
PELLEY: The man of the hour. Wyatt, thank you very much.
# NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS (starting off the newscast): Perhaps mindful that it’s called ‘the Roberts Court,’ Chief Justice John Roberts gave the President the victory he wanted, though it was, of course, immediately enveloped in politics, with Republicans still vowing to kill it....
PETE WILLIAMS: The key to the decision turned out to be the Chief Justice, a lifelong conservative appointed to the court by President George W. Bush.
TOM GOLDSTEIN (SCOTUSblog): The fact that a conservative Republican-appointed Chief Justice wrote today’s opinion joining with the court’s more liberal members would and should give Americans a lot of confidence in the decision, that it’s not just a political thing....
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: This is something that Justice Roberts has talked about repeatedly. It’s something that almost consumes him. He cares very much about the institution of the Court, the credibility of the Court, he has expressed a distaste for decisions that come down five to four against those predictable party lines.
Well today we got a five to four decision alright, but it was not along those ideological lines. But look, he’s still a conservative jurist. There’s still plenty of conservative ideology shot through the opinion that he wrote today, and he really comes down hard on the government’s theory of this broad federal power. He puts some new limits on Congress’ spending power. He’s a conservative jurist, no question. But he’s thinking about not only his own legacy, but the legacy of the Court itself.
