I’m thinking of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts. No matter what he does he’s likely to make half the country livid and calling for his hide. The good news is he’s unlikely to get shot. But even that, in this day and age, is not a sure thing.
The best result Roberts can hope for is that, after the Court renders a decision, both sides in the Pro Life/Pro Choice battle will end up disgruntled but unlikely to be in white hot “take it to the streets pack the court mode.”
Where is that unhappy medium and who are the four Justices who will go there with Chief Justice Roberts to carry the day?
The unhappy medium is to not overturn Roe, but find that the Mississippi law requiring a woman to exercise her Roe rights within fifteen weeks is not an unconstitutional inhibition of those rights. Let that be the Court’s holding.
If I was a betting man and was given sufficient odds I would wager that Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett will go along with the Chief to “save the Court from self destruction” and that there would be two votes from Democrat appointees.
I think Kavanaugh will surprise because he made a point at his Confirmation Hearing of saying “Roe was precedent on precedent.” I think Barrett is capable of being a “star” on the Court, in time, and she will be unmoved by the people she disappoints.
Sometimes the Court has to be aware of the mood of the country and act, or not act, accordingly.
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