I was thinking about John Roberts and reputation yesterday. He joined with the three Democrats on the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, our Right Wing Catholic Supreme Court, in stating the obvious fact that Congress determines what money is spent on White House remodeling. His fellow Cardinals clearly don’t think that making Jesuitical rulings that thwart the clear language of the Constitution will harm their reputations, or at least they act that way.

One reason could be that the reputation they care about is what future fascists will say about them, and we can be sure that those future authoritarian historians will say that at least 5 of them were very good Catholic fascists. The notion that these people give a shit the size of a mouse turd about what liberal law scholars think about them is pretty laughable considering their track record. Clearly, they believe in the right-wing legal ecosystem that was created by the Federalist Society and nurtured by millions of donor dollars. That’s who they’re beholden to, and that’s who they re-write laws for.

Roberts cares a little bit. He thought he could straddle the fence, but, sorry, dude, it doesn’t work that way. Fascism is a bit like homeopathy (if homeopathy was real): a tiny drop of it, even heavily diluted, still makes you a fascist.

I think the behavior of the court is heavily predictive of their judgment of whether Democrats will ever have power again. When someone like Jim Clyburn says he’s for a reform that includes 13 justices, anyone with political sense knows that we’ve gone beyond the realm of a few bloggers yakking. That’s why I think the Cardinals will vote to fuck the mail voting system. Their reputation, with the people they care about, depends on it. They serve the king. He’s a dumb king, who has no understanding nor respect for their knowledge. He’s an evil king, who has thwarted the rule of law for his entire life. But, he’s still the king. If he loses, they’re in trouble.

(I’m aware that Gorsuch is technically an Episcopalian, but he was raised Catholic, and clearly that took. Sotomayor is Catholic too, of course, but she’s a liberal Catholic, which doesn’t count for the 6 fascist Cardinals. They would excommunicate her in a heartbeat if they could.)