Judge Roberts’s race problem

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Publius writes a brilliant post that takes an impressionistic look at Roberts’s past writings and paints a pretty ugly picture of his approach to race issues.

Judge Roberts has some splainin’ to do. As more of these old documents come out, it’s getting harder to come up with a satisfactory explanation for his uniform hostility to any and all efforts to protect civil rights, and to help minorities more generally. At best, I’m thinking that the early Roberts was a product of boarding-school privilege who was unaware and isolated from the reality of racial discrimination. At worst, he was someone who didn’t like minorities. This is a serious criticism, and I would be hesitant to raise it if the troubling theme didn’t arise again and again – and on every single position involving issues implicating race. Because this is not a charge to toss out lightly, it’s important to lay out the basis for my criticism. After I do so, I’d welcome people to respond and tell me why I might be wrong.

It’s very important that you go read this post.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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