I don’t think so, but it seems Roberts moves slightly left sometimes, and Barrett does the same at other times. That is fine and how our justice system should work. The problem for conservatives is that if both make a slight turn, the majority of the Court shifts left. That would not be good for the country we know, but it might work well for the country we don’t yet know.
Let’s hope these are all one-offs and not a trend. All IMO.
“Chief Justice Roberts’s agreement with the Supreme Court’s liberals in dissenting on the construction of President Trump’s White House ballroom is a stunning moment for a jurist who usually sits at the van of his court’s majority.
By a five to four margin — only the Chief Justice joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — the justices ruled that Mr. Trump’s ambitious vision, covering 90,000 square feet, could proceed because lower courts had “likely exceeded” their authority in blocking the project. Mr. Trump has argued that the White House needs a larger event space, and that the alterations are vital for security.
The majority did not reach the underlying merits in the case, but did determine that the National Trust for Historic Preservation , which was challenging the construction “lacks standing,” a make or break constitutional requirement. A member of that group, Alison Hoagland, claimed that she would “suffer both professional and personal injuries, including to my aesthetic, cultural and historical interests, if a ballroom of the proposed form and scale were constructed.” The court’s majority was not persuaded.
Chief Justice Roberts, writing his own dissent, lashed out at the ruling as “no victory for the separation of powers.” Mr. Trump, meanwhile, hailed the ruling as heralding the “Golden Age of America, and this Building will be one of the Greatest ever constructed in Washington, DC.” The preservation group insists that “Each President is a temporary steward of the People’s House and does not have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it.”
The Chief’s dissent in National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation reasons that the construction is “likely unlawful” because Congress has prohibited the construction of any “building or structure . . . on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.” Mr. Trump’s ballroom project, which is due to be completed in 2028, is being funded through hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations.”