Step right up! Enter the Coliseum of Clowns,
Where liberty juggles and precedent drowns.
Roberts, the Ringmaster, tips hat, cracks whip,
“Behold! The Tyrant takes another sip!”
Trump lurches in, bloated Caesar in drag,
A cheeseburger crown, a ketchup-stained flag.
He paws at the law like it’s Miss Teen July,
Whispers sweet lies with a gleam in his eye.
The Justices kneel, kabuki on stage,
While Caligula tweets in all-caps rage.
Forget neutral robes, forget sacred halls—
This circus sells dictators at discount malls.
He fondles the FTC like a tawdry plaything,
Promising “You’re fired!”—his eternal ring.
Precedent squeals on the slab of his lust,
A century gutted, reduced to dust.
And oh, the Republic! She staggers, she reels,
In sequins, on stilts, in banana-peel heels.
Trump gorges on power like deep-fried desire,
America sizzles in authoritarian fryer.
The stage reeks of greasepaint, of cheap cologne,
Of aging demagogue glued to his throne.
The Barbarian’s here—not at gates, but inside,
A carnival ghoul on democracy’s ride.
And Roberts, quill-dainty, plays clerk to this beast,
A butler of empire at liberty’s feast.
So grab your popcorn—enjoy the decay:
Rome wasn’t built, but it burns in a day.

————————————————————

Chief Justice John Roberts stayed a lower court order on Monday that had prevented President Donald Trump from removing Rebecca Slaughter, a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, without cause. His administrative stay was done solely through his own authority as a circuit justice—more on that later—and without the input of any other justices.

The move, which effectively suspends Slaughter from office while litigation unfolds, is impossible to square with the last 90 years of Supreme Court decisions, including ones that directly apply to the matter at hand. Roberts did not write to explain his reasoning or why the emergency intervention was justified.

https://newrepublic.com/article/200171/john-roberts-defies-supreme-court

The New Republic