Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts decried the “dangerous” hot rhetoric being wielded against judges for simply “doing his or her job” by interpreting the law — after the court handed President Trump a major win by limiting the power of judges to make sweeping injunctions.
Roberts urged politicians to bring down the temperature and warned that the inflammatory attacks on the judiciary can fuel political violence.
“I’ve been compelled over the past few years to make statements about people on one side of the aisle – their views on judges – and on the other side,” Roberts said during a judges’ conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“It becomes wrapped up in the political dispute that a judge who’s doing his or her job is part of the problem,” he added. “And the danger, of course, is somebody might pick up on that. And we have had, of course, serious threats of violence and murder of judges just simply for doing their work.”
“So, I think the political people on both sides of the aisle need to keep that in mind.”
Roberts’ remarks came a day after the high court concluded its term and handed down decisions in hotly contested cases such as ending the lower courts’ ability to issue sweeping nationwide injunctions, and giving Maryland parents a win in their quest to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed storybooks in classrooms.
The chief justice refrained from speaking about those major cases during his remarks at the conference in Charlotte.
Fears about political violence have been on the rise. Earlier this month, a sicko gunned down former Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband and wounded Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman as well as his wife.
This prompted lawmakers on Capitol Hill to demand more security. Last year, Congress voted on a measure to spend some $25 million to beef up protection for the nine Supreme Court justices.
Back in April, a man who was apprehended outside conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home entered a guilty plea for trying to assassinate him.
Roberts also chalked up criticism over the high court’s opinions to anger from the losing side and stressed that every case has a losing side.
“It’s not the judge’s fault that a correct interpretation of the law meant that, no, you don’t get to do this,” the chief justice said. “If it’s just venting because you lost, then that’s not terribly helpful.”
Roberts didn’t single out any politicians specifically.
Earlier this year, he issued a rare statement that seemingly rebuffed President Trump’s assertion that certain “crooked” federal judges should be impeached for ruling against his administration.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts hit back in March.
During his Saturday conversation, Roberts spoke with the 4th Circuit’s Chief Judge Albert Diaz, who noted the high court had six significant decisions on its final day, including the Louisiana redistricting case that it punted until the next term.
“Things were a little crunched toward the end this year,” Roberts admitted, hinting that the Supreme Court may “try to space it out a little better next year, I suppose.”
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