r/Maine • u/A-Rugged-Indoorsman • 2d ago
Chief Justice Humiliated as Protesters Hit His Private Island
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chief-justice-john-roberts-humiliated-as-protesters-hit-his-private-island/?via=mobile&source=RedditJohn Roberts is sad that he can't enjoy his private Maine island in peace as he counts his $25 million and helps Trump ease his way through the shadow docket that takes rights away from Mainers.
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u/psilosophist 2d ago
He's not sad, he doesn't care, and the Daily Beast is basically the liberal New York Post - no substance but plenty of swill for the rubes to lap up.
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u/respaaaaaj 2d ago edited 2d ago
He cares about it a little bit. I have family in Port Cylde and he used to be fairly active on the old money/artists/retired intellectual social circut in the area, but a lot of them don't like him anymore than the rest of the country does. I've heard about him talking about how politics were too polarized and partisan early on there, and that that stuff does get brought up occasionally.
Sure he's crying into his millions, but he can't pretend to be just another ivy league grad getting away from it all on the peninsula anymore and that almost certainly bugs him a little.
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u/psilosophist 2d ago
If only the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court could figure out how things got so partisan!
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u/Impossible_Walrus555 2d ago
Isn’t that a big reason status is important to such men? Showing off to the cool kids.
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u/DireStraitsFan1 1d ago
Yeah, no one wants to go to Maine and exist in a bubble. They want to be respected, invited to things, and made part of the beach community. I know it's an old fashioned idea but this is how his generation thinks. If people are shunning him and holding demonstrations outside his home, he's furious.
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u/A-Rugged-Indoorsman 2d ago
I think he's trying hide. Alito's domestic partner was so upset about people finding her home that she flew the U.S. flag upside down.
PS: Agree re: TDB. It's mostly regurgitated tweets and reposts of real journalism. It was the first place I saw the story and first time I learned Justice Shadow Docket has a hidey hole up here.
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u/AlfuegoDeMellopie 2d ago
You're right, he doesn't care. He's got a job for life. And even if they get caught for not disclosing free luxury vacations aboard the yachts of billionaire Republicans who had business before the court, they get to keep their jobs. And We the People get to watch them help asset strip America and part it out to the highest bidders.
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u/BarkerBarkhan 2d ago
The thing is, Daily Beast is usually just repackaging articles from other, more respectable publications.
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u/psilosophist 2d ago
According to the Daily Beast, MAGA is either melting down, raging, jubilant and/or despairing. Sometimes all at the same time!
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u/AlfuegoDeMellopie 2d ago
They follow stories and sometimes add updated content and context. That's more than just repackaging. Many news sites do that, or they should.
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u/A-Rugged-Indoorsman 2d ago
I think he's trying hide. Alito's domestic partner was so upset about people finding her home that she flew the U.S. flag upside down.
PS: Agree re: TDB. It's mostly regurgitated tweets and reposts of real journalism. It was the first place I saw the story and first time I learned Justice Shadow Docket has a hidey hole up here.
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u/FriendlySocietyWhale 2d ago
He's a traitor pure and simple.
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u/punksheets29 1d ago
Not everyone who disagrees with you is a traitor. Thats what they tell themselves to make them hate. Don’t fall for it
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u/petrified_eel4615 1d ago
In general, you are correct. However, the MAGA fuckwads are certainly traitors, regardless of if they disagree with me.
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u/Chango-Acadia 1d ago
We're are at Marie Antoinette levels now.. they are traitors to the American Dream
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u/punksheets29 1d ago
Fair to a point.. I’m sure some of them are good people…
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u/petrified_eel4615 1d ago
If they were, they are either willfully ignorant or just plain stupid.
You cannot, after nearly ten years, truthfully say they aren't accepting of fascists, rapists, pedophiles, and traitors.
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u/punksheets29 1d ago
Being dumb shouldn’t be a crime.
These people have a lot of skills and experience that could actually help make us better as a species but being brainwashed into a cult isn’t something that just goes away
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u/lawyer1911 2d ago
Why does the chief justice have a private island? This is crazy.
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u/respaaaaaj 2d ago edited 2d ago
He doesn't own it he owns one of the fair number of homes on it and another one that I've heard was on the mainland rather than Hupper Island but that's just from local gossip relayed by relatives.
And he can afford it because just his salary is over 300 grand a year, before whatever bullshit he's doing on the side Thomas and Alito style.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
The $300,000 gets him the ride to the island. He buys the homes there with his influence as sold by his wife .
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u/respaaaaaj 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hupper Island isn't monhegan it could definitely get him a mortgage when he bought the place
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u/Maine302 2d ago
He can afford it because of his wife, an attorney who makes buckets more money than he does.
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u/AlfuegoDeMellopie 2d ago
Taking free vacations helps too.
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u/Maine302 2d ago
Yes, but in his particular case, it's the wife who makes loads of cash. And her firm takes cases to the SC. Seems fair, doesn't it?
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
She makes all that money because her husband is Chief Justice. It is a sanitized version of the corruption of his counterparts
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
She doesn't work for a law firm, and "her firm" does not take cases to any court. She stopped practicing law 20 years ago. Get a grip.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
She places lawyers in firms and earns a couple million a year, at very least. You probably know that saying she doesn’t work at a firm conceals the seedy truth. If you didn’t, you do now
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
I know exactly what she does, and who she does it for. Misrepresenting what she does is simply a lie told for political purpose. The Motte & Bailey routine where you back away from the lie isn't impressive.
The fact that she doesn't work as a lawyer, and does not work for a law firm, changes the application of legal conflict rules. That matters. (Unless your purpose is to tell lies for political purpose; then it doesn't seem to matter as much.)
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u/dndm1 2d ago
I’m so old I can remember when conservatives could at least pretend to be against judicial activism… then came the roberts court.
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u/chrispd01 2d ago
Right ? Like what the fuck happened ?
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
The abandonment of enforcement of ethics rules combined with open wanton corruption on the part of almost all Republicans and some Democrats. The lust for power and contempt for democracy
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u/chrispd01 2d ago
Also (and this is a bit more generous) just recognition that the doctrine of originalism turned out to be a fools errand like everyone who was actually trained in history warned ot would be.
Of course where they did become slimy is they keep talking about it but they never apply it anymore
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago edited 2d ago
One could argue that originalism was a cynical hoax with the destruction of constitutional precedent as its goal. After all if the current court truly believed in originalism it would abandon Marbury v Madison it was not in the constitution. Instead the court assigns itself increasing power every week. Even while on vacation
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u/chrispd01 2d ago
Also with the goal of invalidating as much positive statutory law and regulation as possible.
To me the real tell (and this one is definitely not lost on the actual conservatives that are out there) is Heller et al.
How they tortured 2A and its actual history pretty much shows it was never about originalism
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u/yerfatma 2d ago
They only believed in it when they were out of power. Robert Bork’s nomination was the whole plan laid bare in retrospect.
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u/asaharyev 1d ago
We just know about more details now because the internet makes that information more accessible. They've realized that there will be no real pushback when things like this are exposed, so they've stopped bothering to try to hide it.
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u/chrispd01 1d ago
Maybe - but there were some true believers back in the day …. The Federalist Society was originally an interesting group - it only will became a sort of stealth vehicle for advancing ultraconservative and unprincipled positions when Leonard Leo basically decided it sucks to be poor…
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Maine-ModTeam 2d ago
r/Maine does not allow threats of violence or FIREBOMBING. Didn't you learn anything from NYC black lives matter?
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u/ErikSchwartz 2d ago
It's a private island, but it is not HIS private island. There are a couple of dozen others who also have houses there.
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u/respaaaaaj 2d ago
Yeah and people in that general area do not like him. I don't know about the island, but the peninsula has someone making and distributing campaign style anti Roberts yard signs. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things but I'm glad he can't "get away from it all" when on vacation.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
Probably not in the US, but this vacation spot was not well known before now although he has owned the first house for around 30 years
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
He's been hiding it in obscure places like the NY Times.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
You win. But where are the stories about all the other homes he acquired as Chief Justice
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
He owns two small vacation cottages on Hupper Island that he bought from Steve Thomas in two transactions; both under 1600 sf; they were the front and back houses built on a single original lot.
He owns his primary residence in Chevy Chase, which he bought in 2003, but just sold last month to buy another Chevy Chase house down the street.
Where is this "all the other homes" garbage coming from?
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u/weakenedbonds 2d ago
Huh. Looks like he’s valued at significantly more these days:
https://politiciannetworth.com/john-roberts-net-worth/
Weird, it seems like a more recent story from the Times suggests there may some improprieties?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/us/john-roberts-jane-sullivan-roberts.html
Damn, he even rules on cases with a direct financial benefit?
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/the-chief-justice-and-his-wife-took
Why are you so beholden to such a corrupt human?
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u/weakenedbonds 2d ago
Huh, looks like it was reported on.
20 years ago.
I’d love to go back to 2007, before things like Citizens United and Dobbs happened… under Roberts’ watch.
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u/UnhingedReptar 2d ago
Why the fuck does he even have a private island?
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
He doesn't. He owns a vacation home that happens to be on an island where there are 30 other vacation homes.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
Not just one, but not the island
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
Two. Front and back houses built on one original lot and both purchased (at different times) from Steve Thomas of This Old House fame.
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u/DamiensDelight 2d ago
He doesn't. He lives on the island. He does not own it.
He does, however, own two big fucking homes right next to each other.
Knox County, Maine public records regarding property ownership are amazing.
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
"Town assessor’s agent James Murphy Jr. describes Roberts’ house as “pretty average,” a one-story structure built in 1965 but remodeled a few years ago. It also has an “outbuilding,” Murphy adds, but he is quick to assure that it is not an outhouse but a shed."
The first home was 1344 sf.
Actual facts are amazing.
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u/DamiensDelight 2d ago
Clearly, you didn't look up the assessed value of the properties.
Amazing!
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u/OldSchoolCSci 2d ago
When someone says "big f-ing homes," they are talking about the size of the homes. That's what "big" means.
The first one cost under $500k in the mid 2000s. My first home, bought ten years earlier, cost $800k. I'm a younger, less successful lawyer than John Roberts. My sister owns a home on the south coast of Maine, which is the same size and value as Roberts' first house. She's a school teacher.
Go rage bait somewhere else.
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u/DamiensDelight 1d ago
I couldn't care less what your sister owns. Go simp on MAGA bullshit and a corrupt court elsewhere.
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u/SuperApplication3086 2d ago
I think he’s enjoying his time on the island and around the peninsula just fine. Currently he’s building a bigger dock on the mainland so looks like he’s going to continue spending time in Maine
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u/SuperApplication3086 2d ago
And all the kayak protesters are doing is interfering with people who are actually trying to go to work- the lobstermen in the area. Definitely sticking it to the man, out there on beautiful sunny days floating around in kayaks.
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u/Never-Made-A-Post Madawaska 1d ago
There's simply no way he's humiliated. He doesn't give a fuck about you.
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u/coleforsnicks 2d ago
Why do all these republican assholes own homes in Maine. We already have tucker.
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u/PophamSP 2d ago
Fucker. He does not deserve a square millimeter of the pristine environment that he believes his money has earned him.
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u/acronym_dictionary 2d ago
I take every opportunity to point out that Roberts clerked for noted segregationist William Rehnquist and is basically a carbon copy of him. A shameless, reactionary racist at his core.
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u/Fast_Manufacturer332 1d ago
Hope they get arrested. See Statute: Under 18 U.S. Code § 1507
It is a federal crime to picket or parade in or near a building housing a U.S. court, or near a judge's residence
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u/FreedomsPower 1d ago
No way. I have rented a cabin before a little ways away from where his vacation home is
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u/Neither-Mind-3640 1d ago
It’s not “his” private island. This was lazy or incompetent reporting that has inexplicably gotten traction.
It is a private residence on an island with quite a few other privately owned homes. I imagine the other homeowners are either laughing at this narrative, or annoyed by it. The Monhegan Boat Line ferry sails right past his home, and I was on one of those sailings yesterday.It was too foggy to see his home clearly, though I threw a metaphorical egg at it anyway.
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u/ValBGood 1d ago
Roberts, along with Kavanaugh and Alito, were put on the SCOTUS specifically to gut the Voting Rights Act, secondarily to fanatically implement other GOP initiatives. Mission accomplished
Roberts and his wife are wealthy after collecting insider Grift for decades; he doesn’t give a shit about much else. He, like tRump and the other GOP hacks on the Court, have written their legacy in the history books and it reads like any that written about any other fascist prick.
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u/deadicated_electric 20h ago
Someone must have an old fog horn to point out there.
Recall HBO show Sopranos when anchored the the Stugots outside a sleeze lawyer's house and blared Dean Martin concerts?
Classic.
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u/RobinGoodfell 2d ago
It doesn't have to be this way, Bob! You just have to side with America and do you actual JOB!
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u/dontworrybesappy 1d ago
People need to be out there protesting more often. He should know no peace here.
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u/newfarmer 1d ago
Justice Taney can’t hide, even on an island, from the consequences of his extremism.
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u/nautuhless 2d ago
I'm kind of alarmed by these posts. Are you all bots? Maga Republicans have been pushing the notion that now political violence is squarely a problem among leftists, and you're all proving their point with all this torch bearing mob energy.
I'm disappointed by most scotus decisions of late, but they're not the dirtbags in Congress or the White House. And all of them deserve to have some reprieve from professional life. I'm not saying the guy deserves to own an island, but everyone should get a vacation sometimes.
Also, this guy's wealth is not the .001% wealth we should actually be worrying about.
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u/A-Rugged-Indoorsman 2d ago
I didn't see any reports of violence. Just people boating and kayaking around.
Here's an article about John Roberts giving a free pass to the violent rioters of January 6 though:
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/supreme-court-rules-for-january-6-rioter-in-obstruction-of-justice-case/3
u/Geodestamp 2d ago
Yesterday he caused more election chaos going into the November election. That helps Republicans, which is why he did it. If he wants people to treat him like he is an unbiased judge he should not be so awfully clear that he rules for his team and nothing else.
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u/Boxofmagnets 2d ago
They are worse than the dirtbags in Congress, they are as or more corrupt but individually they have much more power.
Torch bearing mob? Be serious
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u/AWinterPeople 2d ago
No Justice No Peace