John Roberts is just a passenger on the culture wars train–it’s more Alito’s thing–but he’s the engineer on issues involving money and power. And what a ride it has been! Sweeping immunity for presidents; the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action; positively embracing gerrymandering; eliminating limits on campaign spending; and putting an end to independent agencies. It all adds up to more power for Republicans, the president, and the Supreme Court, and less for everyone else.
So where does the train go from here? The remaining issues that come to mind are the constitutionality of impoundment and the War Powers Act. If the Democrats win at least one house in the midterms, look for both of these issues to become more prominent in the next two years.