Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says rule of law is ‘endangered’

Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suggested Monday the rule of law is “endangered” during remarks in Washington.

The Bush appointee, who took to the bench in 2005, warned against “trashing the justices,” Politico reported. However, Chief Justice Roberts did not point fingers at anyone in particular.

The remarks come as President Trump and his allies have criticized lower court judges who have issued dozens of injunctions halting his policies.

Mr. Trump, Elon Musk and some GOP lawmakers have even called for the impeachment of some judges.

“The notion that rule of law governs is the basic proposition,” Chief Justice Roberts said Monday at Georgetown Law School. “Certainly as a matter of theory, but also as a matter of practice, we need to stop and reflect every now and then how rare that is, certainly rare throughout history, and rare in the world today.”

“The court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized, so long as it is in terms of the decision, really, and not ad hominem against the justices. I just think that doesn’t do any good,” he said.

The chief justice, speaking at an event at Georgetown Law, said it is too bad that civics education is insufficient.

“We’re developing a situation where a whole group of young people is growing up having no real sense about how our system of justice works,” he told the students.

His comments were less pointed than those of his colleague Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who earlier this month made news in remarks at a conference in Puerto Rico.

She did not name Mr. Trump but said she was addressing the elephant in the room.

“The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate,” Justice Jackson said. “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.”