Conservative members of the Supreme Court have recently faced a barrage of attacks from press outlets working in conjunction with left-leaning interest groups over the past month. They have attacked Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and John Roberts’ wife. Every single story has omitted key details or gotten basic facts wrong. For example, stories misrepresented Neil Gorsuch’s sale of property to turn a non-scandal into scandal. They also confused an LLC for an LLP and claimed Clarence Thomas had not filed paperwork that he had filed. Each of these attacks is not just revenge for the Court getting rid of Roe. They are trying to rough up the Justices by scaring them into restraint.

Back in the late thirties, Franklin Roosevelt threatened to pack the Supreme Court because the Court kept defeating his New Deal legislation. But, what historians called “the switch in time that saved nine” happened as FDR pushed legislation to expand the Court beyond nine members. Members of the Court who’d voted against FDR suddenly flipped votes and FDR dropped the Court packing. Progressives are trying the same now with the ongoing character assassination attempts.

[Clearly this is an intimidation campaign. Thus far, the nine justices have united to push back against it. Hopefully that unity will remain strong, because this goes to the heart of the judiciary as an independent and co-equal branch of government. — Ed]