Because (obvi) any Supreme Court justice handpicked for the job by GOP conservatives owes strict allegiance to the Constitution conservatives everywhere, the head of the nation’s oldest conservative advocacy group is calling for Chief Justice John Roberts’ impeachment.
Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, was apparently livid upon learning that Roberts had sided with justices known to be decidedly more liberal in ruling that the Trump administration could not add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census.
According to the Washington Times, Schlapp tweeted Thursday:
“I’m for impeaching the chief justice for lying to all of us about his support of the Constitution,” Mr. Schlapp said on Twitter. “He is responsible for Robertscare and now he is angling for vast numbers of illegal residents to help Dems hold Congress. Enough Deception from GOP judges on the Constitution.”
Trump’s team argued that adding the citizenship question was needed to enforce the Voting Rights Act, but opponents argued the real goal was to depress participation by immigrants and other marginalized groups.
The opposition offered evidence, including some that suggested a GOP operative had written a report, shared with Trump officials, that indeed had found that adding a citizenship question would advantage “non-Hispanic whites” and Republicans.
In writing for the 5-4 majority, Roberts basically ruled that the Trump administration was less than credible when it came to explaining its reasoning for adding the question.
All of that smacks of betrayal to the conservative cause as far as Schlapp and other conservatives are concerned, as the Washington Times reports:
Mr. Schlapp, whose wife Mercedes is a top communications adviser to Mr. Trump, cast the decision as a betrayal of conservative principles on par with Chief Justice Roberts‘ ruling in 2012 upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare.