When it comes to the Supreme Court, Donald Trump still can’t count to five

| 6:04 pm EDT September 5, 2018
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There are two reasons why Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee for the Supreme Court. The first is that Kavanaugh is a conservative extremist who will please Trump’s base. The second is that Kavanaugh has previously stated his belief that a sitting president shouldn’t be bothered with things like criminal investigations. The trouble for Trump is that, at least in one of these instances, he doesn’t appear to correctly know how to count to five.

Yes, Brett Kavanaugh would give the Supreme Court five votes against abortion rights, birth control rights, you name it. That kind of anti-woman stance is, of course, completely unacceptable and un-American. This guy cannot and must not be confirmed. But when it comes to the matter of Kavanaugh being able to save Trump in his criminal scandals, the math looks different.

Trump appears to be assuming that, if there are five conservatives on the Supreme Court, it’ll mean that he’ll win any ruling when it comes to whether he can be indicted, whether he can pardon himself and his family, and so on. But while Chief Justice John Roberts always leans conservative on ideological issues, he does not necessarily lean Republican on partisan issues. For instance, Roberts famously saved ObamaCare, even though he personally opposed it, because under his legal interpretation, it was constitutional.

We don’t know how John Roberts would vote on a matter of a presidential indictment or a pardon of a co-conspirator. But there is no reason to expect that he would side with Donald Trump simply for partisan reasons. If Trump is counting on Roberts, he’s doing the math wrong. In any case the Supreme Court cannot interfere with the impeachment process if Congress goes that route. Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation would mean the utter destruction of women’s rights, but it wouldn’t necessarily help Trump out.