UVA and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello just rendered their supposed highest honor, a Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal, utterly meaningless, with the move to give one of their 2026 medals to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
This would be the same John Roberts who was the swing vote in the 5-4 decision in the Citizens United ruling in 2010 that opened the door for billionaires to buy elections, and authored the 2024 decision in Trump v. United States that gives presidents, ahem, Donald Trump, broad immunity from prosecution for official acts, which themselves are so broadly defined as to give Trump carte blanche to do whatever he wants.
Those two court decisions are why the country is where it is right now, perhaps eternally off-track from the democratic republic experiment that the Founders began in the 18th century.
UVA is honoring this guy in the name of Thomas Jefferson.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to honor this year’s Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal recipients, who are each distinguished leaders in their chosen fields, and who embody the spirit of public service that Jefferson held in such high regard,” said the new UVA president, Scott Beardsley, the MAGA former Darden School dean rushed into the presidency by the Youngkinistas, then affirmed by the what good are they Spanbergers.
“I congratulate this year’s medalists on all they have achieved and look forward to celebrating their extraordinary contributions,” Beardsley said.
The other honorees are architect Jeanne Gang and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
If I’m either of the above, I turn down the honor, out of respect for my own legacy.