John Roberts’ ‘eh’ view of extreme partisanship is important

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The funny thing about “secret” recordings made of public figures is that they generally confirm what everyone already knew.

The propriety of liberal activist Lauren Windsor pretending to be a religious conservative in order to surreptitiously record Supreme Court justices attending a dinner hosted by the Supreme Court Historical Society can certainly be debated.

The effectiveness of publishing these recordings is clear. Putting the word “secret” in a headline about a recording guarantees more people will read it.

The implication is that the subject is saying something they shouldn’t, even if they are actually saying exactly what you’d expect. For example: The secret recording of Mitt Romney talking at a fundraiser – about how the 47% of the population that would oppose him no matter what probably don’t pay income tax – contributed to his 2012 presidential election loss in part because the comments rang true to the narrative of the campaign.

Alito’s comments are no surprise

Did we need a secret recording to know that Justice Samuel Alito feels that religious Americans are being persecuted? We did not. It’s written all over his opinions and his public appearances.

Did we need a secret recording to know that Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann, would bristle at having to look at Pride flags flown across the lagoon from their New Jersey beach house? Probably not, after she was scrutinized for flying an upside-down American flag – a distress signal – at their home in Virginia before Joe Biden’s inauguration and a religious-themed “Appeal to Heaven” flag in New Jersey. Her German view of revenge against