“You’re wrong, Hugh,” Constitutional Scholar Levin counseled fellow conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt Wednesday after Hewitt defended Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issuance of a public statement condemning the use of impeachment to oust radical, activist lower-court judges.
After President Donald Trump posted a call for the impeachment of activist judges seeking to usurp and deny his executive authority granted by the Constitution, Chief Justice issued a rare public statement, declaring that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.” Roberts’ statement ignored concerns of judicial overreach and the breach of separation of powers, reframing the issue as one of mere “disagreement.”
In his social media post defending Roberts’ injection of himself into matters of the Legislative Branch, Hewitt made six basic arguments:
- Chief Justice Roberts’ job is to defend judges
- Roberts will do the right thing, in the end.
- Roberts would be derelict if he didn’t respond to Trump’s comment.
- Impeachment is weaponization of power and will probably be waged against Trump a third time.
- House Republicans should reject the impeachment option as being “non-justiciable” and should rely on the D.C. District Court for relief.
- Being wrong on the law isn’t an impeachable offense.
Levin responded with six observations about the role of Chief Justice Roberts and judges, in general:
- Hewitt should defend the Constitution, not the ruling class.
- It’s Roberts’ job to defend the Constitution, not to pontificate about matters that are not before him.
- Radical judges are “systematically attacking the constitutional power of the executive branch with nationwide orders, radical political and policy rulings, and picking to pieces the authority granted a president.”
- Remaining silent about the judges’ misdeeds is “exactly the wrong response” – rogue judges need to be publicly condemned, because “separation of powers is the heart of our system.”
- Roberts can, and should. act to end the judicial overreach, rather than lecture the elected representatives who are trying to stop it.
- If Roberts does, ultimately, do the right thing in the matter, it’ll be because Americans forcefully spoke out against the judicial tyranny and demanded he do so – not because Hewitt defended him.
“Wake up, my friend,” Levin urged, in closing.