'Invitation to villainy': Chief Justice John Roberts accused of causing huge political war
The current war over gerrymandering in Texas, California, and other states is the result of Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court, according to a legal expert.
James Sample, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University, appeared on MSNBC on Saturday to discuss Texas GOP "re-redistricting," and other key topics.
Sample described what he called an "underemphasized" point regarding the current "chaos": the Supreme Court caused it.
"The current chaos is a product of the U.S. Supreme Court," he elaborated. "In 2019, in a case called Rucho v. Common Cause, the Supreme Court essentially said, 'You know what? Partisan gerrymandering is anti-democratic. It is bad for democracy, but there's nothing we can do.' And saying that there was nothing that the court could do was a departure from prior practice," Sample said. "If you think about it this way, shoplifting is illegal, right? Very few shoplifters get caught, but you don't see shop owners putting up a sign in the window that says the police will never arrest you if you shoplift from our store."
He continued:
"In 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States put up that sign. The Texas GOP here is they're acting like villains. But the invitation to that villainy came from One First Street, NE, in Washington, DC, at the hands of the Roberts court."