in World News The Chief Justice Needs To Stop Taking PR Cues From Meghan Markle
Elle Purnell Visit on Twitter @_ellepurnell
The Meghan Markle strategy of issuing press releases to make people take you seriously is no way to run a Supreme Court.
Meghan Markle single-handedly damaged the centuries-old reputation of the British crown by trying to win affirmation from the public via a constant PR campaign. Chief Justice John Roberts is well on his way to doing the same thing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Both institutions lack any kind of real mechanism to enforce their power. The survival of both is predicated on their subjects’ recognition of — and willingness to submit to — their authority.
If the people of Britain decide they’re tired of subsidizing the royal family’s lifestyle, there’s not much the palace can do about it. If the Supreme Court becomes viewed as so political that the president and American people revert to the Andrew Jackson approach of “the chief justice has made his decision, now let him enforce it,” the court is pretty much out of cards to play. So the people who command each institution recognize how vital it is to keep the public convinced of their legitimacy.
The late Queen Elizabeth II was often credited with following a “never complain, never explain” strategy. Markle took the opposite approach during her brief stint as a member of The Firm and even more so afterward. From the unveiling of a company, to its rebranding, to a Spotify podcast that wasn’t, to a Netflix show, to another podcast attempt, she has kept her struggle for relevance on life support by issuing constant announcements about what’s going on in Meghan-world. The more desperate her cries of “TAKE ME SERIOUSLY” become, the more people roll their eyes and wish she’d go on a social media cleanse.
The chief justice shares her obsession with maintaining public adoration, and unfortunately, he also appears to share her strategy for it.
Roberts knows the court has been subject to incessant attacks on its legitimacy from the left, ranging from threats to “burn this place down” after the court’s leaked decision overturning Roe v. Wade to impeachment campaigns targeted at the court’s most originalist justices. He is no doubt alarmed at the fact that conservatives are now quickly losing respect for a judicial branch that enables rogue lower court judges to unilaterally enjoin the elected president from executing his constitutional responsibilities, including foreign policy responsibilities over which domestic courts hold no authority.
The best way to defend the court’s legitimacy — and the public’s perception of it — would be to quickly shut down these rogue judges and uphold the constitutional separation of powers. Roberts had the opportunity to do so earlier this month, after a D.C. district court judge issued an outlandish temporary restraining order commanding the executive branch to cough up $2 billion to USAID contractors despite the Trump administration’s pause on foreign aid. Instead, Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s liberals in refusing to even take the case.