Roberts Doctrine

"I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos."
--Sir Thomas More (A Man For All Seasons)

SCOTUScare is now an appropriate label for the Affordable Care Act as a majority of the high court headed by Chief Justice John Roberts has rewritten law as if the judges were serving at the pleasure of the executive branch.

The Roberts Doctrine, as George Will characterizes it, includes a judicial function that modifies laws in ways the court believes would make them perform better than they would as written by Congress. Consequently, rather than serving as a check on congressional and executive power, the court works in tandem with the other branches as legal consultants of sorts.

Progressives who are end zone dancing around the King ruling might do well to consider the implications of this development relative to future periods when other factions rule the day.

To be sure, our judiciary system designed under the assumption that it constitutes a the primary line of defense in protecting liberty against discretionary rule as been deteriorating for years--particularly since FDR was able to reconfigure the court to his liking.

However, with the court now editing legislation firsthand for the other branches, the Roberts Doctrine promises to take loss of liberty to a new level.

Of course, some saw this coming many years ago.