If I Were Chief Justice Roberts...

Don't get me wrong, today was a wonderful day for marriage equality. DOMA was rightly struck down as unconstitutional, and we got perhaps the best ruling on Prop 8 we could expect from a conservative court such as this (the 5-4 majority on Prop 8 was the oddest combination of justices, too).

Now people are celebrating, and for good cause, but there's something unsettling about the people out there who are celebrating Anthony Kennedy's role in the DOMA decision. Yes, he was key vote in overturning DOMA. He was also the key vote in yesterday's ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act, a disappointing ruling to say the least.

If I were Chief Justice Roberts and wanted to help out the Republican Party as much as I could this court session, a session taking place not long after an election landslide victory for my opponents, I would prioritize my major issues. The major docket issues this June, or at least the ones that proved to attract the most public attention, were: affirmative action, voting rights, and marriage equality. If Chief Justice Roberts could chose just one of these issues to claim as a victory, on behalf of the Republican Party, which would it be?

Voting rights, without a doubt. It would grant the Republican Party a great deal of lasting political power. The other two issues could be sacrificed without the loss of Republican power. And let's not forget that Prop 8 and affirmative action were decided on very narrow grounds that don't change much at all. Only DOMA and the Voting Rights Act were irrevocably changed.

And, with a stroke of political genius, if I were the Chief Justice I would release the decision on marriage equality last, knowing it would eclipse the Voting Rights Act decision's public importance (save the best for last) and wipe it from many memories.

After the Voting Rights Act was hobbled yesterday, many people pointed out that the decision left room for Congress to enact similar legislation using modern-day statistics. Indeed, the Supreme Court gave Congress clear instructions on how to refashion the law in a manner in harmony with the Constitution. Yesterday there was a sizable amount of support for this sort of solution and it looked as if an effort might be made in Congress to follow these instructions and create a new Voting Rights Act. However, even if the Voting Rights Act was a top priority for Congress it would be hard to imagine that it would make it through to Obama's desk without a herculean effort. After today's DOMA ruling, I doubt even the traces of that effort exist anymore.