Friday Mailbag!

Let's do this thing!

Happy Friday!

We made it!

The first general election debate — and, yes, I think it is going to happen! — is in just 13 days. Donald Trump will be sentenced for his hush money conviction in 27 days. The Republican National Convention — in that “horrible” city of Milwaukee — opens in 31 days. The Democratic National Convention starts in 66 days. The general election is now 144 days away.

Let’s get to your questions! As always, to read this full Mailbag you need to be a paid subscriber. So, become one! It’s just $6 a month or $60 for the entire year!

Q: With the recent headlines on Thomas and Alito plus the eroding public confidence in the Supreme Court, are you surprised at Chief Justice Roberts’ radio silence in addressing any of this? Isn’t his legacy on the line?

A: Well, he’s in a very tough position. These are his colleagues. They are on the Court together for life. And there are only 9 of them. So he has to navigate the personalities very, very carefully.

At the same time, Roberts has been tireless in his insistence that the Court must be seen as above politics. That pledge has taken MAJOR hits with the coverage of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over the past few months.

My guess is that Roberts is biding his time. He doesn’t want to look too reactive to the news but I cannot imagine he is happy with Thomas and Alito. He’s probably looking for a good time — a speech to some judicial organization or something like that — to make his point.

But, this is the Supreme Court. If you are waiting for Roberts to come out and openly and flatly condemn Alito or Thomas, it just isn’t going to happen.

By the way, if you want to understand Roberts and why he does what he does, I would strongly recommend the biography of him written by my former colleague Joan Biskupic.

Q: Will [Thursday’s] decision by the Supreme Court on the Mifepristone case have any effect on the election and if so, what will it be?

A: I don’t think it will — mostly because the Court didn’t rule on the actual merits of the case. Instead they said that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to bring the case.

Which means, I think, that someone who DOES likely have standing will eventually bring a case to ban mifepristone — it’s an abortion pill — and then the Court will have to engage on the issue in a real way.

This ruling was sort of a technicality. So I don’t see it having a big impact on the election.

Q: What's your take on Martha-Ann Alito's comment regarding her dispute with her neighbors:

“I’m German. I’m from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you. And there will be a way—it doesn’t have to be now—but there will be a way they will know.”

Do you have any idea what she meant by this? Is she planning to have troops invade her neighbor's yards? Very weird. (I've read several reactions that liken it to the Wicked Witch of the West - "I'll get you and your little dog, too, my pretty!").