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John Roberts and Little Lord KickMyAss
A few weeks ago I said of Justice John Roberts:
Roberts was the conservative wet dream candidate: candy-shell on the outside, Robert Bork on the inside. He is the child who has never colored outside the lines. He’s a courtier for the rich, the powerful, and, most importantly, the white. He’s the smiling face that hides a cold heart.
Reading the following memos Roberts wrote regarding a few simple letters (and I have bolded my favorite parts) requested of our former movie star president from the Michael Jackson camp, I see nothing that would make me change my notion that John Roberts is an inflexible anal-retentive mayo-on-white-bread prig:
The death of Michael Jackson on Thursday recalled his brush a quarter century ago with an aide to President Ronald Reagan — John G. Roberts Jr., who would go on to become chief justice of the United States. Mr. Roberts, it appears, was not the King of Pop’s biggest fan in the White House.
Mr. Jackson had visited the White House on May 16, 1984, and appeared with Mr. Reagan at an event on efforts against drunken driving. The following month, according to files released in 2005 during Mr. Roberts’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the White House was asked to contribute a letter from Mr. Reagan recognizing the pop singer’s work.
[...]
On June 20, 1984, Mr. Coyne forwarded the proposed letter office of then-White House Counsel Fred Fielding, where Mr. Roberts, then a young associate White House counsel, was assigned to review it.
Mr. Roberts expressed acid disapproval in a June 22, 1984, memorandum to Mr. Fielding:
I recognize that I am something of a vox clamans in terris in this areaI, but enough is enough. The Office of Presidential Correspondence is not yet an adjunct of Michael Jackson’s PR firm. “Billboard” can quite adequately cover the event by reproducing the award citation and/or reporting the President’s remarks. (As you know, there is very little to report about Mr. Jackson’s remarks.) There is absolutely no need for an additional presidential message. A memorandum for Presidential Correspondence objecting to the letter is attached for your review and signature.
In a later memo, Roberts wrote:
I hate to sound like one of Mr. Jackson’s records, constantly repeating the same refrain, but I recommend that we not approve this letter. Sometimes people need to be reminded of the obvious: whatever its status as a cultural phenomenon, the Jackson concert tour is a massive commercial undertaking. The tour will do quite well financially by coming to Washington, and there is no need for the President to applaud such enlightened self-interest. Frankly, I find the obsequious attitude of some members of the White House staff toward Mr. Jackson’s attendants, and the fawning posture they would have the President of the United States adopt, more than a little embarrassing.
It is also important to consider the precedent that would be set by such a letter. In today’s Post there were already reports that some youngsters were turning away from Mr. Jackson in favor of a newcomer who goes by the name “Prince,” and is apparently planning a Washington concert. Will he receive a Presidential letter? How will we decide which performers do and which do not?
If anybody is being obsequious around here it would be an fast-rising 29 year-old suck-up showing off for his boss by stiffening his spine and curling his upper lip lest he be somehow be associated with those jungle rhythms and what the "youngsters" are listening to these days. It wouldn’t have been any worse if he had added "I’m a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don’t know if it gets any better than when he sings When a Man Loves a Woman ". And who the fuck, under the age of sixty and not doing a 1950’s public service short on the evils of "reefer", calls kids or teens or whatever "youngsters"?
If there is a man in America who needs to loosen up a little, it’s John Roberts. I strongly recommend a night of clubbing, heavy drinking, and assorted recreational drugs culminating in a sloppy VIP room blowjob.
Getting or giving. I don’t judge.
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“vox clamans in terris” – what kind of moron writes like this using a dead language when using plain English would do the trick? As if he had to use code to spell out to his white bread brethren that he’s not one of those people…
The real tragedy is that we are stuck with this insipid dreck for decades; we can only hope the composition of the SCOTUS changes enough over the next four years that he remains vox clamans in terris for his remaining tenure.
He was holding out for Larry Gatlin.
So… did the send the letter?
I’d suggest Al Basij to kick off the night of clubbing.
I love so much that this has come to light. Snotty little shit.
I’m not sure what he means by vox clamans in terris. I have heard of vox clamantis in deserto which means “voice in the desert.” I’m sure Roberts meant he was a voice in the desert because he’s the only one not excited about Michael Jackson but then he would have used “in deserto” instead of “in terris” whatever the hell that means.
And since I know you are all fascinated by his use of language, how about this whopper: “eleemosynary.” This is not a commonly used word. The only reason to use such a word is to show off the higher learning one has. I’m a big fan of higher learning and I don’t mind showing it off once in a while so long as I don’t cross the line and come off like a pompous douchebag. To say Roberts crossed the line is an understatement.
And don’t you just love it when a pompous ass can’t think of the Latin phrase for “a voice crying out in the wilderness” so he wings it instead of actually looking it up, thinking the rest of us plebians won’t catch the error. Makes me wonder if he was this lazy when he wrote briefs….
Over the years I’ve met a few pompous, brown-nosing, insufferable, twits like this guy. If a man could model “Stepford wife”, he’s it.
P.S. You can bet he’s fucked up sexually in some major wet suit and two dildos kind of way.
Ruthie and SufferingBruin are right. “Voice crying in the land”? Lazy motherfucker, just trying to impress. You still hear lotsa lawyers say “eleemosynary,” but in a very specific usage, referring to tax exempt, not for profit entities, as in “The Sisters , Servants of the IHM and the Natural Resources Defense Council are both eleemosynary organizations.” Roberts stepped way outside that usage loop to use “eleemosynary” to impress his audience (”See,? I told ya that pompous little fag was smart!”) because he thinks it sounds like a 1930s B&W movie version of Dickens or Melville.
That pic reminds me of the classic watertiger line from his nomination hearings: “That girl is going to have issues when she grows up. So will her sister.”
Self hating, closeted, sadistic, judgmental, scrote stroking, taint lapping cocksucker servitor of the lowest common denominator of great wealth malefactor asswipe douchenozzle POS. KKKlassic jumped up spawn of an insecure climbing steel plant manager from Indiana. Christ on a fucking kkkracker, itz an ameriKKKan sucKKKcess story writ large.
He misquotes his Latin anyway, by the way. Vox clamans in terris translates as “A crying voice in the lands” whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. He apparently was half-thinking of vox clamantis in deserto, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” This would be a reference to Isaiah 40:3, and was used in the New Testament Gospels to refer to John the Baptist.
Pompous prick. Roberts, that is, not John the Baptist.
Hipster doofus that he is, I understand Roberts thought this meeting was the cat’s pajamas, though, res ipsa loquitur.
Oops. Should have read the other comments by learned Latinists before pontificating myself. Just add my voice to those decrying John Roberts in the lands, or wilderness. I’m going to look at basset pictures now.
More like Doucheus baggus in terris.
Thar’s a mountain of Latin gold in all that.
Someone needs to find a way to send it to the Doucheus baggus in terris so he/she can use it in future briefs.
So very Ross Douchehat-ish. About the same age and all.
So Jackson was there to raise awareness about “don’t drink and drive.” He was using his celebrity to help a social cause, and Robert’s John flies into a tizzy?
Damn, he must get really pissed when those athletes come around whenever they win some game, and use the White House and President just to promote their already wildly popular enterprises. Little to no social causes are involved in those cases.
Maybe he was thinking of Dartmouth — Vox clamantis in deserto. (Except I don’t get the “clamantis” bit, if the verb is clamo, which it clearly is.)
What pisses me off is that the Democrats gave him a pass after some liberal legal writers claimed he was not that bad because he was “collegial”.
When I was in the seventh grade my best friend went to the national spelling bee (finished 12th), and he showed me the list of words he was learning, and on it was eleemosynary. This is the first time since then (1959!) I have seen someone use it outside of a legal document, and it is very annoying.
I think “Vox clamans in terris” is supposed to be a joke: instead of saying that he’s a voice crying from the wilderness (which would imply that he’s different and alone), he means to be a voice crying from the land, i.e., the non-wilderness (to imply that his view is the mainstream one). Kind of a Silent Majority move.
Actually, he’s OK with it as long as he can sniff their jox and lick between their toes.
Molly Ivins used it a couple of times, admittedly in the context of mocking people who used it.
Pity his children, for they must suffer the fool and yet somehow find it in their hearts to love him…
I believe you may be right. That would let him suck up (”SEE? He’s smart, I tellya, brilliant…”) while also looking down on the people he’s blowing {”Dumb shits don’t even get my marvy joke…”)
WTF kinda lawyer job in the goddam fucking WH should involve writing extensive memoranda about Michael fucking Jackson, ANYWAY?
Roberts better hope his adoptees don’t develop the same issue with “eleemosynary” that the Menendez brothers did…
JDM3, this is just another example of that “efficient, cost-effective governing by republicans” that we’ve heard so much about. We’ve heard about it, though we certainly haven’t seen it much.
“The only reason to use such a word is to show off the higher learning one has.”
I too am annoyed by people who engage in sesquipedalianism.
I think the kids are both at the age where “unconditional parental love” = “all the toys I want!”
From Merriam-Webster OnLine:
I recall an anecdote about the young Oscar Wilde being tested on his Latin skills. He was given a passage from the Bible to translate, which he started to do. His examiners were satisfied, and told him he could stop. He replied “No, this is quite interesting, I’d like to continue!”
I strongly recommend a night of clubbing, heavy drinking, and assorted recreational drugs…
Can we use the stick up his butt for the clubbing?
I think what he really meant was “vox chlamydia in testes“.
Also too, can we use the alcohol for water boarding before the clubbing. I think we can get to tell us that Lindsey Graham was indeed his lover at one point.
lol JD..c’mon tell us how you really feel …
I believe that’s 2 wet suits and one dildo.
How about two wet suits and two dildos? That way we’ve covered all the bases.
I’m certain he meant vox clamato, “voice of the tasty clam beverage”.
Otto the Autopilot writes: In today’s Post there were already reports that some youngsters were turning away from Mr. Jackson in favor of a newcomer who goes by the name “Prince,” and is apparently planning a Washington concert. Will he receive a Presidential letter? How will we decide which performers do and which do not?
Give one negro a Presidential letter, then you’ll have to give one to all the negroes, he seems to be saying, and this is besides the implication that Jackson and Prince are simply interchangeable parts in the jukebox, because they’re both negroes, you see, and play negro music, a novelty capable of supporting only a single practitioner at any given time.
It was said of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula) that there was never a better slave or a worse master. Roberts seems to be the same way.
While agreeing with your interpretation, I am also struck by the notion of a 29-year old getting his current musical information from the WashPo. As opposed to, say, listening to the radio. It’s kind of pathetic.
In Robert’s defense, I doubt he indulges in anything that doesn’t resemble wearing barbed wire under his crisp starched white shirt and putting glass in his Johnston Murphy shoes, even if it is just metaphorically. He is pretty much a Hazel Motes (from Flannery O’Conner’s novel ‘Wise Blood.’) with an advanced education.
dr2chase: clamantis is the genitive singular of the present participle clamans. As you suggest, the verb is clamo, “call out” or “cry out.” So clamantis is “one crying out.” Thus the Dartmouth College motto, and the quotation from Isaiah, is “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness.”
Personally, I always liked the more informal translation, “The voice of a clam in the desert.”
And Roberts is stll a dick.
soooo, question: did roberts’ opinion win the day? did the letter get trashed or sent?
Okay, that made me laugh.
If it was sent, no doubt it will soon be on sale at Sotheby’s–or on eBay.