Former federal judge blasts John Roberts in new book and says Ruth Bader Ginsburg was annoyed by pressure to retire

Retired US Appeals Court Judge David Tatel, a former civil rights lawyer and nearly 30-year veteran of the country’s “second highest court,” laments the actions of the current Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts in a candid new memoir.

Retired US Appeals Court Judge David Tatel, a former civil rights lawyer and nearly 30-year veteran of the country’s “second highest court,” laments the actions of the current Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts in a candid new memoir. Rarely do US jurists, even in retirement, write so bluntly. A 1994 appointee of President Bill Clinton and someone whose name appeared on Democratic short-lists for the high court, Tatel particularly criticizes Roberts’ opinions on race, including to eliminate voting rights protections, a core plank of America’s civil rights revolution. The Supreme Court, Tatel wrote, has “kicked precedent to the curb” and become “a tragedy” for civil rights and the rule of law. Tatel also reveals high-court insights from private conversations with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He said she revealed early dealings among justices that eventually led to the milestone 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision undermining the Voting Rights Act. Ginsburg also shared with Tatel the pressure she felt to resign while a Democrat was still president – pressure that the judge speculates may have led her to stubbornly stay on the bench. “During one dinner at our house, she took me aside to express her annoyance at commentators who were calling for her retirement. ‘The timing of a resignation is up to each justice,’ she told me. ‘John Stevens didn’t step down until he was ninety,” Tatel wrote.