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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / When the Umpire is biased…

When the Umpire is biased…

by Dennis G.|  March 14, 20116:50 pm| 33 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Domestic Politics, Fuck The Middle-Class, Fuck The Poor, Assholes

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During his opening statement at his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts told the Senators that his job was to be an umpire:

Judges are like umpires. … The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. … And I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes …

But John Roberts has proven to be a very biased umpire.

Think Progress points to a recent report that the Roberts Court has a strong bias in favor of corporations. The NYTs reports that the Roberts Court rules in favor of Corporations over 61% of the time (a 15% gain over the record of the Rehnquist Court in similar cases). And another study finds that Justices in the Roberts Court are biased in favor of Corporations when compared to Justices of the recent past.

Justice under John Roberts is a two-tiered system. As the charts and graphs over at Think Progress and other recent reporting makes clear it is a rigged game. Workers, the middle class, individual liberty and justice take a back seat to the wants of Corporations as the Roberts Court uses one set of standards for their Galtian Overlords and another for everybody else.

To simplify these studies, I thought it might be useful to create a guide to the different Strike Zones that John Roberts uses to call balls and strikes:

Strike Zones of John Roberts

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Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    March 14, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    I don’t see why they can’t get a computer to do the Supremes’ job.

  2. 2.

    MikeJ

    March 14, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    Be glad Bush didn’t appoint Eddie Gaedel.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    March 14, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    That’s a sweet graphic.

    “Bidniz is people too.”

  4. 4.

    JR

    March 14, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    Umpires don’t pick teams, and they don’t set lineups. Supreme Court Justices, on the other hand, pick which contests they wish to see and define the parameters and stakes of each match. Stupid analogy.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    March 14, 2011 at 7:20 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    I don’t see why they can’t get a computer to do the Supremes’ job

    If Watson, the Jeopardy Computer, has a bias in favor of corporations, then we are all screwed.

  6. 6.

    Dennis G.

    March 14, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    @JR:
    I always thought the “Umpire thing” was a stupid analogy as well, but I recall folks falling over themselves to praise Roberts when he said it.

    John Roberts is the worst Chief Justice since Roger B. Taney and I suspect that he’ll bump Taney up a notch before he is off the Court.

    Cheers

  7. 7.

    Ming

    March 14, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    Fuck. I remember Senator Obama explaining his opposition to Roberts’ appointment — he totally called this.

  8. 8.

    Triassic Sands

    March 14, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Only 61% of the time? I’m shocked the percentage is so small.

    @BGinCHI:

    I don’t see why they can’t get a computer to do the Supremes’ job.

    Who gets to program the computer — John Roberts?

  9. 9.

    jwb

    March 14, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    @Dennis G.: How much of this is due to Roberts and how much due to the changed membership of the court? I haven’t checked out your links, but your post doesn’t really provide any evidence that Roberts is solely (or even primarily) responsible for the shift.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    March 14, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    @Triassic Sands: Obviously I do. Cole can’t even negotiate stairs.

  11. 11.

    nicteis

    March 14, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    Um, the graphic is backwards. It indicates nearly every pitch to individuals is a ball, and for them it’s an easy walk to first; nearly every pitch to corporations is a strike and there is no joy in corporationville unless they manage to hit wild pitches over their heads and below their knees.

    If we want to debunk the myth that progressives are a bunch of unamerican pointy-heads, could we try not to create the impression that we don’t understand the first thing about the all-American pastime?

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    March 14, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    @nicteis: No, the plaintiff is pitching.

  13. 13.

    Steeplejack

    March 14, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    (OT) Were you able to catch Montalbano last night?

  14. 14.

    Social outcast

    March 14, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    Roberts is concerned by individual rights, but they are the individual rights of a very narrow band of individuals: corporate leaders. The same ones who are constantly stripping out the profits of corporations and handing them all to themselves, leaving little for workers or shareholders (many of whom are the same due to workers stakes in pension funds and 401K programs). So it’s less about organizations than it is about protecting the interests of his friends.

  15. 15.

    BGinCHI

    March 14, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    @Steeplejack: I didn’t see it anywhere in the listings. That was frustrating, and I’m not sure what’s going on.

    Will check again when I get time (work has been crazy).

  16. 16.

    burnspbesq

    March 14, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    This analysis is utter, unreconstructed bullshit. I am no fan of this Court, but at least try to come up with a reasoned critique.

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    March 14, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    It won’t show up as Montalbano, it will show up as International Mystery, the omnibus series of which it is a part. On again at 9:00 p.m. and midnight EDT Tuesday. (WYCC, according to Wikipedia.)

    Leaving stalker mode after this.

  18. 18.

    Jrod the Cookie Thief

    March 14, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    @burnspbesq: Yeah Dennis! Your cartoon playing off of a famous quote from Justice Roberts, based off of information gathered from four separate news stories and studies, is not nearly reasoned enough for our sniff refined palate.

    Yo burns, how about you take your own fucking advice and come up with a critique more reasonable than yelling bullshit. Explain to us little people how the New York Times is wrong here. Explain to us peons why the CAC’s report is wrong, oh noble esquire.

  19. 19.

    Pancake

    March 14, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    Well, at least this post is totally unsurprising in its adherence to the prescribed talking points that the crazy-ass Left have been pushing over recent months. As to substance, not so much there.

  20. 20.

    DougW

    March 14, 2011 at 8:34 pm

    The Roberts court is bought and sold to big business. Anyone who can’t see this, is blind.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    March 14, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    @Pancake:

    Well, at least this post is totally unsurprising in its adherence to the prescribed talking points that the crazy-ass Left have been pushing over recent months. As to substance, not so much there.

    Hey, you and burnspbesq agree! Common ground at last.
    Oh, wait…

  22. 22.

    Evolved Deep Southerner

    March 14, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    @efgoldman round and fat: That dumb fucker isn’t new. Are you Ricky?

  23. 23.

    BGinCHI

    March 14, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    @Steeplejack: OK, will check it out. Thanks again.

  24. 24.

    JRon

    March 14, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    excellent graphic. am posting it now.

    Roberts and Alito were Bush’s lasting achievement of shifting the court to the right after decades of talking about it. Sadly enough, this is one thing he actually accomplished.

  25. 25.

    redoubt

    March 15, 2011 at 7:48 am

    I love that you used Stan Musial to represent the batter.

  26. 26.

    themann1086

    March 15, 2011 at 9:08 am

    @Dennis G.: I said as much back when I actually blogged in 2005. Good times.

  27. 27.

    Howlin Wolfe

    March 15, 2011 at 10:31 am

    @JR: Well, Roberts was the one who chose the analogy. Are you saying Dennis G is stupid for taking it further, or are you criticizing Roberts? Either way, you don’t offer any other analysis for why the rulings are skewed in favor of corporations.

  28. 28.

    Howlin Wolfe

    March 15, 2011 at 10:32 am

    @nicteis: Not if you think of the pitcher as the appellant/petitioner.

  29. 29.

    Howlin Wolfe

    March 15, 2011 at 10:34 am

    @burnspbesq: Why don’t you come up with a better analysis? Or at least offer a reason why you think so.

  30. 30.

    Citizen_X

    March 15, 2011 at 10:49 am

    @Howlin Wolfe: Yes, and I’ll take the analogy even further: according to Roberts’ record, a corporation has every right to bean you smack in the noggin–and you still get a strike called against you.

  31. 31.

    Gus

    March 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Shit, Ted Williams would have hit .600 with the Blue strike zone.

  32. 32.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    @burnspbesq: If you see the plaintiff as the pitcher & the ‘strike zone’ being the pitcher getting the Supremes to rule his/her way, then I think it is a very nice graphic. Non lawyers can easily understand it & it visually shows the differences when the ‘pitcher’ is a corporation as opposed to a little ole human being.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Suburban Guerrilla » Blog Archive » Uh huh says:
    March 15, 2011 at 9:54 am

    […] SCOTUS strike zone: […]

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