THEY’RE NOT UMPIRES CALLING BALLS AND STRIKES, THEY’RE BATTING FOR ONE TEAM: A Tale Of Two Shadow Dockets: The Supreme Court moves heaven and earth to block removal of alleged gang members who are almost certainly removable, but says nothing about Ohio initiative process being declared unconstitutional. “It is often said that the Supreme Court follows the headlines. To be clear, the Supreme Court follows the headlines of the mainstream media. There is a never-ending torrent of hottakes about a constitutional crisis. But most Americans will scratch their heads at this issue and wonder why the Supreme Court is giving so much attention to these alleged gang members.”

Yes, when John Roberts worries about the Court’s “legitimacy,” he means its legitimacy in the eyes of the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Washington Post, not in the eyes of the American people. Which is shortsighted, but so very on-brand.