Chief Justice John Roberts has long proclaimed his commitment to the Supreme Court's institutional legitimacy and to interpreting the Constitution based on precedent and nonpartisanship. He's failed. It's time for him to go.

Of course, there's no chance the chief justice is about to be fired. That would require a majority of the House of Representatives to impeach and two-thirds of the Senate to convict on the basis of "high crimes and misdemeanors." And Roberts is no criminal. A couple of friends we have in common tell me he's a good guy. He's just a failure in leading the court.

I started a company in Silicon Valley. When presenting to investors and the board, I told them what my goals and deliverables were. If I fell way short of what was promised, I'd expect to be fired or to quit. Since Roberts can't be fired, he should resign.

When it comes to institutional legitimacy, faith in the Supreme Court has plummeted to its lowest point since Roberts became chief justice in 2005. In an April NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 62% of respondents said they have not very much or no confidence in the court. That number is up from 38% five years ago.

The scent of corruption seems to be wafting through the Supreme Court chambers as well. Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted luxury vacations, lavish gifts, tuition money for his great nephew and free rent for his mother from billionaire Harlan Crow. This was despite the fact that Crow's interests as a real estate developer and investor have had business before the court. On top of that, Thomas failed to disclose the earnings of his wife who vigorously supported the false claim that Donald Trump had won the 2020 presidential election. Has Roberts addressed these wounds to the court's reputation? No, not specifically. Has he supported a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices? No, not specifically. He did say earlier this week, "I want to assure people that I'm committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct." But the time has passed for such vague words. Justice Thomas has made him look foolish and inept.

In fact, questions about spousal moneymaking have tainted the chief justice himself. Roberts's wife reportedly generated $10.3 million in commissions from law firms over an eight-year period for placing new hires. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said that a judge "need not recuse merely because" their spouse recruited for law firms who had issues before the court. Maybe that's the letter of the law, but it sure looks corrupt and further undermines the court's legitimacy.

At his confirmation hearing, Roberts made a metaphorical promise to "call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat." He was promising to be like a baseball umpire who ensures rules are followed but is not a participant in the political game.

In 2013's decision in Shelby County v. Holder, Roberts wrote an opinion that threw out a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Here he did not merely call balls and strikes, he struck out the batter. With four colleagues, he usurped Congress' role by taking on a legislative function. In the five years after the ruling, nearly a thousand polling places were closed, many in predominantly African American precincts. In 2019, two professors wrote in an American Economic Association paper: "Although only a few years have elapsed since the Shelby County decision, we are already starting to observe erosions in black Americans' socioeconomic status. ... Our findings suggest that perhaps Chief Justice Roberts should be slightly less optimistic about the state of democratic equality in the South."

The court's judgment in the 2010 Citizens United case allowed unlimited independent campaign spending by corporations and thereby inflated the influence of big money in politics. Over a hundred years ago, Theodore Roosevelt argued, "All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law." It didn't matter what Roosevelt thought or Congress legislated — Roberts' Supreme Court decided the issue.

In the case of Dobbs v. Jackson, he sided with the majority to overturn the half-century old precedent set down in Roe v. Wade that gave women the right to control their own bodies in the early months of pregnancy.

At his confirmation hearing, Roberts promised, "I will be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court, and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all Americans."

No, Mr. Chief Justice. You have lost the faith of the American people in the court you lead. You have failed to maintain the court's integrity. You have failed to safeguard American liberties. Three strikes and you're out! Get off the bench.

In Keith Raffel's checkered past, he has served as the senior counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, started an award-winning internet software company and written five novels, which you can check out at keithraffel.com. He currently spends the academic year as a resident scholar at Harvard. To find out more about Keith and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at creators.com.

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