Roberts Fought Back Against Scalia in Sharply Worded Footnotes
WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 08: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia (L) and Chief Justice John Roberts talk while posing for photographs in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court building October 8, 2010 in Washington, DC. This is the first time in history that three women are simultaneously serving on the court. *** Local Caption *** Antonin Scalia;John Roberts
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesFrom the moment Chief Justice Roberts' majority opinion on the Obamacare case was published, the justice's clout with conservatives went into free fall. As Bloomberg reported, conservatives have declared him a cautionary tale in the dangers of failing to nominate the right judges (Roberts was nominated by President Bush). While he likely won't respond to his conservative critics, his footnote responses to Justice Antonin Scalia's scathing dissent offer a glimpse of how he would defend himself.
While it was Roberts who wrote the court's opinion upholding Obamacare's subsidies, Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent was the more interesting read. In 21 pages, Scalia calls the reasoning of the six justices who ruled in favor the government "pure applesauce," and asks several rhetorical question to emphasize his disagreement.