We the Constitutional have spent large swaths of the last fifteen years wondering just what the heck Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is doing.
Republican President George W. Bush was reelected in 2004 in part because We the People like having judges enforce the Constitution – not rewrite it. The next year, he appointed Roberts Chief Justice.
At the time, we were more than a little pleased. Ever since, not so much. Because he has issued an incessant cavalcade of really awful rulings.
Most recently, he was so far out there every one on the Court ruled the correct way – except him.
Roberts Alone in Dissent as Supreme Court Backs Student in Religious-Speech Case:
“The Supreme Court on Monday revived a former student’s lawsuit against the college that blocked his evangelizing on campus, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. apparently for the first time in his 16-year tenure casting a lone dissenting vote.”
So if anything – Roberts is getting worse.
When Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor agree with each other – and disagree with you? Perhaps you should consider: Just how far from the path have you strayed?
Attempting to read anyone’s mind is foolhardy. But one can make educated guesses – predicated upon consistent patterns of a person’s behavior.
The problem with Roberts – is his utter inconsistency. His rulings have no ideological through-line. It’s as if he hears a case, retires to his chamber – and throws a dart at a board.
Guessing SCOTUS: Do Rulings Depend on What Roberts Has for Breakfast Each Day?
Meanwhile, those of us who like Intellectual Property (IP), its Constitutional protections and their legal enforcement – have been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on this….
Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.:
“(A)n ongoing legal case within the United States related to the nature of computer code and copyright law. The dispute centers on the use of parts of the Java programming language’s application programming interfaces (APIs), which are owned by Oracle (through subsidiary, Oracle America, Inc., originating from Sun Microsystems), within early versions of the Android operating system by Google.
“Google has admitted to using the APIs….”
Well that seems like an open-and-shut win for Oracle. Oracle owns Java, Google admits they used 11,500 lines of Java’s code – Google should have obtained a license from Java to have done so.
But don’t take our word for it – take Google’s.
The Email Where Google Admits They Stole the Intellectual Property to Build Android:
“The E-Mail That Google Really Doesn’t Want A Jury To See:
“‘Lawyers defending Google against a patent and copyright lawsuit brought by Oracle are trying desperately to keep a particular engineer’s e-mail out of the public eye-but it looks like they’re unlikely to succeed.
“‘The e-mail, from Google engineer Tim Lindholm to the head of Google’s Android division, Andy Rubin, recommends that Google negotiate for a license to Java rather than pick an alternative system….
“‘The second paragraph of the email reads:
“‘“What we’ve actually been asked to do by Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] (Google’s founders) is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java for Android and Chrome.
“‘”We’ve been over a bunch of these and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need.”’”
How incredibly easy a ruling this should be for the Court. Including for Chief Justice Roberts.
Last October….
Supreme Court Hears Copyright Battle Between Google and Oracle
And we have ever since been awaiting their decision.
While we wait, can we cater daily morning meals for Chief Justice Roberts?
This first appeared in Red State.