In Washington the Left pays for constitutional treason with accolades rather than pieces of silver. And liberal praise for John Roberts’ untenable, even dishonest opinion upholding ObamaCare as a tax continues to come in.  The latest is New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman who announces that the decision “was inspired by a simple noble leadership impulse at a critical juncture in our history.” Just as all liberal decisions are inspired, he might have added.  As long as you are aggrandizing government power, you obviously are on the side of the angels.

“Dishonest John” is worse than either David Souter or John Paul Stevens. They were clear and unabashed enemies of constitutional liberty. So no one expected anything different than opinions constantly undermining constitutional protections for individual liberty and against government power.

Roberts has become the Manchurian Jurist, whispering sweet rhetoric into conservatives’ ears while delivering results to the leftish establishment which runs Washington. His dicta against an expansive interpretation of the Commerce Clause sounds nice, but is meaningless, since he has provided the roadmap for evading its effect in the future. Even Nancy Pelosi cannot have missed “Dishonest John’s” invitation to treat everything as a tax, which doesn’t even require calling it a tax.

No doubt “Dishonest John” will receive some nice dinner party invitations when he returns from his two-week sojourn to Malta. He might believe that the entire affair is a joke, but the rest of us will pay with our constitutional liberties for the rest of our lives.