That it's so ham-fisted and unsubtle fits with my basic theory of Roberts: he thinks he's a good politician, in a non-derogatory sense, and he's absolutely not.

has nobody ever been mean to our special boy at any point in his life before now?

I don't think he's necessarily insincere with the "I'm an institutionalist trying to protect the Court's reputation" bit. He thinks that's what he's doing. Thing is, that's a political goal. It's public opinion. And he is really, really bad at it. He has all the political aptitude of a two by four.

Guys who think they are master manipulators but are actually very inept are my least favorite kinds of guys (and they become painfully easy to spot with any training in discourse analysis).