“Last February,” the story begins, “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. sent his eight Supreme Court colleagues a confidential memo that radiated frustration and certainty.”

A confidential memo you say? Is the New York Times under the impression that chief justices of the Supreme Court are in the habit of posting internal legal memos on social media? If not, the word “confidential” is meant only to insinuate that another imaginary deception is afoot. The piece is larded with this kind of innuendo.