Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stressed the importance of an independent judiciary Wednesday, saying the courts serve to “check the excesses of Congress or the executive.”
His comments were made to an audience in Buffalo, New York, where he was visiting to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
“In our Constitution … the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president,” Chief Justice Roberts said, according to NBC News.
“And that innovation doesn’t work if … the judiciary is not independent,” he said. “Its job is to, obviously, decide cases but, in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.”
The chief justice also repeated that impeachment of judges is not the answer to disagreement, as there is an appeals process for decisions that a party does not like.
He was asked about his recent statement against President Trump and his allies’ calls to impeach judges who have moved to block the president’s agenda.
“You know, impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions,” Chief Justice Roberts said.
His comments were less direct, though, than Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who warned earlier this month against attacks and pointed rhetoric against the judiciary in an unsubtle reference to Mr. Trump’s criticisms of judges ruling against his policies.
In statements to judges at a conference in Puerto Rico, Justice Jackson said she was addressing the “elephant in the room,” according to Politico, but the Biden appointee did not mention Mr. Trump by name.
“The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate,” Justice Jackson said, according to Politico. “The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government. And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Since Mr. Trump took office and signed dozens of executive orders, judges have been handling legal challenges to his agenda, as hundreds of lawsuits were filed looking to curtail his moves to fire people, pause spending, and change immigration policy.
Mostly Biden- and Obama-appointed judges at the district court levels have been issuing injunctions to halt the president’s moves.
That prompted the president, Elon Musk and Republican lawmakers to call for impeachment.
And Fox News reported Thursday that the chief justice also hinted that he has no plans to retire from the high court and has asked two friends to intervene if his health is ever in decline.
Chief Justice Roberts is 70 years old and has served on the Supreme Court for about two decades after being appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005.
