Johnson: Chief Roberts Makes History

There will be days and days of analysis – some of it even important – of today’s historic Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, or as those who hate the law say – Obamacare. We’ll hear every possible interpretation and then some. Here is my initial take on one sliver of the story; the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion upholding the law , went against four other conservatives on the Court with whom he often finds compatibility and maybe – just maybe – wrote himself firmly into the history books. I think most Court watchers would say that a Chief Justice – any Chief Justice – always wants to be in the majority. Roberts worked hard to get there even while taking pains to throw a rhetorical political bone to those who will see him as an updated version of former Justice David Souter , an appointee of the first George Bush who served to infuriate many conservatives/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here . (AP photo of Chief Justice John Roberts with President Barack Obama during 2010 State of the Union speech)

Question: Do you think Roberts made the right kind of history?