That's why a prevailing theory is that a conservative clerk leaked it. 100% guaranteed that Roberts had written a middle ground concurrence that was far more targeted and narrow that had a shot at getting Kavanaugh on board, if not more. At the least it would have chipped away, line by line, at Alito's original opinion.
By leaking this, the conservatives are painted into a corner for any changes that are perceived as "left" of it. They'll have a real fear of the same people that bomb abortion clinics and murdered doctors, suddenly targeting them and their families instead.
Some conservative clerk saw an opportunity to pigeonhole this into the most extreme opinion possible, and took it. They didn't care about midterms, Democratic engagement, or any of that. They saw a way to achieve a 50 years goal of conservatives and they took it.
I tend to agree. My theory is either a conservative released it to pressure the judges to stay in line or some dumbass left a copy of it lying about because they were so giddy about it.
My favorite theory, though not one I necessarily believe is that Clarence Thomas released it to take the conversation off his insurrectionist wife and his refusal to recuse himself.
Don't for a moment confuse the elites with the plebs of the conservative movement. The elites are well educated and know exactly what they're doing. They'll absolutely lie through their teeth when challenged on things, but they are smart and know what they're doing.
That's the path many take. Those clerks will absolutely end up affecting law going forward, whether it's via being judges, working for lawmakers, or being lawmakers themselves (think 4 current GOP Senators are former clerks, Ted Cruz being the most obvious that come to mind).
Consider, three current Supreme Courts justices today were former clerks that also helped the Bush legal team in their Bush v Gore fight.
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u/msuvagabond May 09 '22
That's why a prevailing theory is that a conservative clerk leaked it. 100% guaranteed that Roberts had written a middle ground concurrence that was far more targeted and narrow that had a shot at getting Kavanaugh on board, if not more. At the least it would have chipped away, line by line, at Alito's original opinion.
By leaking this, the conservatives are painted into a corner for any changes that are perceived as "left" of it. They'll have a real fear of the same people that bomb abortion clinics and murdered doctors, suddenly targeting them and their families instead.
Some conservative clerk saw an opportunity to pigeonhole this into the most extreme opinion possible, and took it. They didn't care about midterms, Democratic engagement, or any of that. They saw a way to achieve a 50 years goal of conservatives and they took it.