I was guessing before the release of the decisions on the tax returns that the Chief Justice had the following objectives:
- Protect the Trump re-election campaign from any embarrassing disclosures;
- Avoid any obvious departures from precedent that would make the Court look overly partisan; and
- Make sure that the opinions leave enough room for a future GOP Congress to investigate a Democratic president.
It appears that he accomplished all three.
The opinion in the New York case is unobjectionable. The cases involving Congress are going to make it significantly harder for the legislature to do its job. Given the outcome of those cases and the decision on Count II of the impeachment bill, future presidents with legal trouble will simply stonewall Congress and rely on delays in the judicial system to run the clock out. It will probably work, too.