More evidence why Chief Justice John Roberts is one of the most admirable public servants of our time, courtesy of the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court turns down most cases without comment, but yesterday Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. decided that his colleagues' agreement not to hear a Pennsylvania drug bust case demanded a written dissent.

And not just a routine dissent. Instead of employing the usual staid legal prose, Roberts channeled his inner Mickey Spillane in objecting to his colleagues' decision. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy signed on, as well.

The dissent is here. A taste:

North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three­ dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He’d made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.

Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn’t buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy’s pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office.

It gets better from there. Remember: The above passage was written by the chief justice of the United States, not Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, or Donald Westlake. What a talent.

Naturally, Barack Obama voted against him.