Matthew Whitaker is a crackpot

But if you think, as Whitaker seems to, that Roberts is too much of a squish ("he's not a good person to point to when it comes to actually just calling balls and strikes in practice," Whitaker said of Roberts in the 2014 interview), consider Roberts's predecessor as chief justice, William Rehnquist. In his book on the Constitution, Rehnquist described Marbury as "the linchpin of our constitutional law."

Or consider Justice Brett Kavanaugh's comments during his confirmation hearings, describing Marbury as among the "four greatest moments in Supreme Court history." Kavanaugh offered a more extended defense of Marbury in a 2014 Notre Dame Law Review article. "It's my submission," Kavanaugh wrote, "that Marbury v. Madison continues to mark the proper approach for constitutional interpretation."

Yet we seem to have, as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, a man who begs to differ. Is this still his position? If so, how does that view -- that the court in Marbury was too assertive in exercising its power -- square with Whitaker's simultaneous beef that the court was inadequately assertive in striking down laws during the later New Deal era and when dealing with the Affordable Care Act?

That's not the only troubling question about Whitaker. During a 2014 Senate debate sponsored by a conservative Christian organization, he said that in helping confirm judges, "I'd like to see things like their worldview, what informs them. Are they people of faith? Do they have a biblical view of justice? -- which I think is very important."

At that point, the moderator interjected: "Levitical or New Testament?"

"New Testament," Whitaker affirmed. "And what I know is as long as they have that worldview, that they'll be a good judge. And if they have a secular worldview, then I'm going to be very concerned about how they judge."

Marbury was wrong. Religious tests for judges. If you thought the big worry about Whitaker was how he would handle special counsel Robert Mueller, that might be just the beginning.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.