Kantor knows exactly what she’s doing.
Jodi Kantor of the New York Times has been one of the leaders of a two-pronged assault on the Supreme Court. One prong is leaks from the Court, the dangers of which became apparent after the Dobbs leak triggered a plot to assassinate members of the Dobbs majority before the opinion could issue. Kantor has run stories from more leaks aiming at cracking the Court’s deliberations. The other prong is going after the justices’ homes and travel, providing them no sanctuary from protests, harassment, and worse. Thus, we got Kantor’s preposterous stories on flags flown on Justice Samuel Alito’s property and about his wife’s interactions with their neighbors.
This morning, we get a big splashy layout from Kantor in the Times about where Chief Justice John Roberts spends his vacations. That’s it: That’s the story. Pictures and descriptions of where his house is, and how he spends his leisure time. Photos leading the story are of “SHAME ON THE ROBERTS COURT FOR OVERTURNING ROE v WADE” protesters. And unsubtle efforts to encourage his neighbors to harass him:
In recent years, as the Supreme Court has reshaped American life and handed more power to President Trump, a very personal form of anger has been rising here at the chief justice, transforming his getaways. . . . Neighbors have taken to the water to protest him. Calling themselves “kayak-tivists,” they form flotillas facing his island home, holding waterproof signs conveying their disappointment. A local newspaper columnist recommended that people in town give him the finger. Even some longtime friends who would not dream of joining the kayakers said they have been drawing back socially because of their distress over his decisions. . . . For the demonstrators, the hour is too dire, the threat to democracy too serious for niceties. They argue that citizens have no other way to hold justices, with their lifetime appointments, accountable.
She quotes one hate-filled local columnist: “No. May you never feel welcome here again.” Kantor slips into the passive voice with this, as if she is merely a bystander rather than someone pouring gasoline on the flames: “The chief justice’s narrowing world in Maine shows how the court’s controversial decisions and languishing public trust, along with increasing peril for public officials, have reshaped the lives of the justices, leaving them more isolated than ever before.”
Kantor knows exactly what she’s doing.