The Supreme Court has become a political clubhouse, consumed with optics, log-rolling and media leaks. Its decisions in certain matters are sourced not in the text, structure or history of the Constitution,

A new report reveals how Chief Justice John Roberts tried to protect Samuel Alito as he faced backlash amid his flag scandal.

One has to wonder, given how frequently the Supreme Court’s chief justice seems removed from the social and political realities of the country. As revealed by my Times colleagues Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak in their remarkable,

The Times notes that he had originally assigned the opinion to be written by Justice Samuel Alito. But, after the revelation that Alito had flown an American flag upside down to symbolize solidarity with those who had stormed the capital, Robert again sprang into action. He benched Alito and wrote the opinion favoring the insurrectionists himself.