John Roberts' public 'chastising' of right-wing justice flagged by legal expert

A legal scholar on Friday zeroed in on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent in the Supreme Court’s sweeping tariff ruling, saying it stood out not just for its shaky legal footing but for how closely it mirrored the government’s arguments.

In an interview on CNN, NYU law professor Ryan Goodman said he was struck by Kavanaugh’s role in the three-justice dissent – and by how the majority responded to it.

“It's a bit of a surprise to see him in this three-member dissent because they're basically wrong on the law and the supermajority of federal judges have said so,” Goodman said. He pointed to what he called an "unusual" addition to the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, where Roberts openly criticized the dissent.

“Chief Justice Roberts does something quite unusual,” Goodman said. “He actually chastises Kavanaugh a bit by saying that the government's argument was echoed point by point by the principal dissent.”

When Roberts made that observation, Goodman explained, “he's basically saying Chief Justice Roberts is saying that Kavanaugh was parroting the government's position.”

But Goodman suggested that Kavanaugh siding with the MAGA administration’s position in the tariff ruling may be a way of setting himself up to strike down future challenges to the Supreme Court.

“The fact that he parrots it, the fact that he's in the dissent, I think, gives him more room to maneuver back into the majority when other cases are coming up before the court, in which I do think he might very well invalidate some of the actions,” Goodman said about the Trump-appointed justice.

"I think he's bought himself and the court more legitimacy and more room to do so," he added.