Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned Tuesday that the United States must maintain “judicial independence,” just weeks away from the inauguration of newly elected President Donald Trump.
Roberts laid out his concerns in his annual report on the federal judiciary.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy. Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every government suffers defeats in the legal system – sometimes in cases with major consequences for the executive or legislative branches or other resulting issues.” Robert wrote in the 15-page report. “Nevertheless, the courts’ decisions, popular or not, have followed in recent decades, and the nation has avoided the impasses that plagued the 1950s and 1960s.”
“In recent years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open contempt for federal court rulings,” Roberts said, without naming Trump, President Biden or any specific lawmaker. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be strongly rejected. The independence of the judiciary is worth preserving. As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is “essential to the rule of law in any country,” yet “it is fragile.” it may be destroyed if the law of society exists to serve and does not ensure its preservation.”
“I urge all Americans to appreciate this legacy of our founding generation and cherish its endurance,” Roberts said.
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Roberts also quoted Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who noted that the three branches of government must “work together in successful cooperation” to “enable the effective functioning of the government department designed to advance the interests of liberty with judicial impartiality and independence.” protect. .”
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Roberts and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor stand on the floor of the House of Representatives prior to President Biden’s annual State of the Union address before a joint session on March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
“Our political system and economic strength depend on the rule of law,” Roberts wrote.
A historic Supreme Court immunity decision written by Roberts, along with another Supreme Court decision that halted efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot, were defended as major victories on the Republican candidate’s path to winning the election. The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats like Biden, who later called for term limits and an enforceable code of ethics after criticism of secret trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some judges.
A handful of Democrats and a Republican lawmaker urged Biden to ignore a decision by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone last year. Biden declined to take executive action to sidestep the ruling, and the Supreme Court later granted the White House a reprieve allowing sales of the drug to continue.
The Supreme Court will be seen on February 5, 2024 in Washington DC. (MANDEL EN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority also ruled last year that Biden’s massive student loan forgiveness constitutes an illegal use of executive power.
Roberts and Trump clashed in 2018 when the chief justice rebuked the president for denouncing a judge who had rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”
In 2020, Roberts criticized the Senate Democratic leader’s comments Chuck Schumer of New York, while the Supreme Court was hearing a high-profile abortion case.
Roberts introduced his letter Tuesday with a story about King George III stripping colonial judges of their lifetime appointments, an order that was “not well received.” Trump is now preparing for a second term as president with an ambitious conservative agenda, elements of which are likely to be legally challenged and end up in court, with the conservative majority including three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.
In the annual report, the chief justice wrote generally that even when judicial decisions are unpopular or represent defeat for a presidential administration, other branches of government must be prepared to enforce them to ensure the rule of law. Roberts pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which desegregated schools in 1954, as one that required federal enforcement despite resistance from southern governors.
Chief Justice John Roberts, left, and Associate Justice Samuel Alito sit as they and the other members of the Supreme Court sit for a group photo at the Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill on Friday, October 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
He also said that “attempts to intimidate judges over their rulings in cases are inappropriate and must be vigorously opposed.”
While government officials and others have the right to criticize statements, they should also be aware that their statements “could provoke dangerous reactions from others,” Roberts wrote.
According to statistics from the US Marshals Service, threats against federal judges have more than tripled in the past decade. State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were murdered in their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote.
“Violence, intimidation and opposition to judges because of their work undermine our Republic and are completely unacceptable,” he wrote.
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Roberts also pointed to disinformation about judicial decisions as a threat to the independence of judges, saying social media can increase distortions and even be exploited by “hostile foreign state actors” to deepen division.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
