Court President John Roberts, in a dramatic first individual dissent, said that a Monday decision by his fellow judges would radically expand the power of the court and threaten to turn the judges into “advisory columnists”.
Roberts pointed to an 8-1 Supreme Court decision by taking the side of a Georgia Gwinnett College alumnus who sued his school for $ 1 after she banned him in 2016 from discussing his faith on campus, violating his religious rights.
In disagreement, Roberts argued that the small trifle sought by the student, Chike Uzuegbunam, was not substantial enough to sustain a federal lawsuit, especially since the plaintiff was no longer a student and his former school suspended the offensive speech code.
Allowing the case to go ahead, Roberts said, even if a legal victory did not change Uzuegbunam’s “status or condition” was tantamount to a “radical expansion” of the judiciary.
“The Court sees no problem with turning judges into council columnists,” wrote Roberts. “In your opinion, common law and (to a lesser extent) our cases require federal courts to open their doors to any claimant who asks for a dollar.”
According to court observers, Monday’s decision marked the first time that Roberts, appointed by George W. Bush, wrote a lonely dissident opinion in almost 16 years in the Supreme Court.
Uzuegbunam sued Georgia Gwinnett College after school officials repeatedly ordered him to abstain from professing his Christian faith on campus, claiming that he had failed to comply with the school’s speech code in various ways.
Federal courts of first instance ruled the case, concluding in part that the tiny payment sought by Uzuegbunam was not sufficient to justify his legal right to sue.
Court 8-1 on Monday disagreed and revived the case, with Justice Clarence Thomas
Clarence ThomasVernon Jordan: an American legend and a good friend Kavanaugh discourages conservatives by dodging pro-Trump electoral processes. Laurence Tribe: Judge Thomas is out of order in the 2020 elections MORE writing for the majority.