Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday lamented widespread misunderstandings of the Supreme Court’s work and pushed back against criticism that many of its most high-profile cases have ended in conservative outcomes.
“People think we’re making policy decisions,” Roberts said when asked at a conference of attorneys and judges in Hershey, Pa., what he believed was the biggest misunderstanding Americans had about the agency he has led for more than two decades.
“I think they view us as real political actors,” he said, “and I don’t think that’s an accurate understanding of what we do.”
Roberts’ comments came just days after the court issued a blockbuster ruling striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Lawmakers in several Southern states had used the ruling to defend their chaotic push to redraw congressional boundaries to help Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. The decision, made by a coalition of six justices’ conservatives and three justices’ liberal blocs, drew sharp criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups, some of whom renewed calls for court reform.
Last week’s decision also resulted in a heated exchange of opinions between three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — and liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson days later. Jackson wrote that the court should stay on the sidelines of technical disputes following the Voting Rights Act ruling to “avoid the appearance of bias.”
“What principles did the court violate?” Alito fired back in a unanimous opinion. “The principle that we should never take any action that could be unjustly criticized as partisan?”
More broadly, Roberts’ defense on Wednesday comes as the court enters the final months of a term filled with major cases involving President Donald Trump’s reshaping of the power of the federal government. The court issued one of its rulings in February, overturning Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, a decision that drew sharp personal criticism from the president.
Trump said judges who ruled against him, including two he appointed, “embarrassed their families.”
Roberts, speaking Wednesday at a conference organized by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, reiterated past comments that criticism of the court’s decisions is fair but said people must be “more careful” about making personal criticisms of judges.
“Once that happens,” he said, “it’s not appropriate.”
The chief justice did not mention Trump specifically or discuss any of the high-profile cases the justices have handled this term.
Roberts was interviewed by Chief Judge Michael Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush. Chagares spent much of the session asking softball questions, asking Roberts for advice for judges, lawyers and younger versions of himself.
In answering questions about the court’s increasingly lengthy oral arguments, Roberts did have some news for those who follow the agency closely. The Lord Chief Justice said the format adopted by the justices in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic meant the debate lasted “too long” and he intended to “consider the issue over the summer”.
During Roberts’ speech, a woman in the audience unexpectedly stood up and began addressing the chief justice. Turns out she was just asking him to speak more clearly into the microphone.
Roberts looked relieved.
“I guess,” he quipped, “it’s a protest.”
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