Vice President Mike Pence said Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives because of how often he has sided with the more liberal Supreme Court justices in consequential Supreme Court cases.
During an interview published Thursday, CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody asked Pence, “Are you scratching your head a little bit on John Roberts? We’re not going to call him David Souter at this point, but conservatives have a track record of having some problems with Supreme Court justices that you thought were going to be a reliable vote …”
“We have great respect for the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Pence answered. “But Chief Justice John Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives, whether it be the Obamacare decision or whether it be a spate of recent decisions all the way through Calvary Chapel. It’s a reminder, and I think several cases out of the Supreme Court are a reminder [of] just how important this election is for the future of the Supreme Court.”
Pence continued:
We remember the issue back in 2016, which I believe loomed large in voters’ decision between Hillary Clinton and the man who would become President of the United States. And some people thought that it wouldn’t be as big an issue these days, but I think that’s all changed. The recent decision — and again a narrow Supreme Court decision — striking down a Louisiana pro-life law that only said that doctors working in abortion clinics would have to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. That’s a very modest restriction on abortion providers, but a narrow majority in the Supreme Court still said it was unacceptable.
And I think it’s been a wake-up call for pro-life voters around the country who understand, in a very real sense, that the destiny of the Supreme Court is on the ballot in 2020. And that’s why President Trump announced that he’s going to publish another list of men and women from which he will draw any future appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. He did that in 2016; he kept his word. He’s going to do that in the fall of 2020, and [in the] next four years, he’ll keep his word and appoint more principled conservatives to our courts.
WATCH:
EXCLUSIVE: Vice President Mike Pence calls out Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts by name. He says, "Chief Justice Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives." Watch from my interview with @VP in Florida today. Full report on @700club Thursday + clips on @CBNNews pic.twitter.com/z6IANVONr5
— David Brody (@DavidBrodyCBN) August 6, 2020
In the recent Calvary Chapel case Pence referenced, Roberts sided with the liberal majority in denying a Nevada church’s petition to obtain immediate relief from the state’s mandate limiting worship services to 50 people. The unsigned opinion was strongly rebuked in dissents by Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito.
In his dissent, Gorsuch contrasted the state’s treatment of churches with how it treats casinos, writing in part, “In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion. The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.”