Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts sharply criticized elected officials on both sides of the political aisle for undermining the federal judiciary in several ways.
In his year-end report released Tuesday, Roberts noted four areas of “illegitimate activity” that threaten judicial independence: violence, intimidation, disinformation, and open defiance of court rulings.
In 2024, the Supreme Court dealt with several high-profile cases and made decisions that were unpopular among Democrats. The arguably most notable ruling gave president-elect Donald Trump immunity from official acts committed while in office, which erased some of the allegations in the now-dismissed federal case that alleged he attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The conservative supermajority’s 6-3 decision sparked backlash from Democratic lawmakers.
While judicial decisions won’t please everyone and will likely come at the expense of a presidential administration, Roberts expects those decisions to be followed as they have in the past.
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” he wrote in his 15-page report. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”
The chief justice did not mention anyone by name, but he did cite an instance in which an elected official called for the impeachment of a federal district judge who ruled in a “high-profile case” this past year. Roberts condemned the attempt to intimidate this particular federal judge.
“Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed,” he said. “Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others.”
Roberts’s report on the federal judiciary has traditionally been published on New Year’s Eve. In the past three years, he focused on judicial independence, judges’ physical safety, and even the dangers of artificial intelligence.
This year, Roberts highlighted perpetrated acts of violence against judges and their family members, which can be prompted by people “doxing” their home addresses and phone numbers online. He also said the Internet can be used for threatening violence against judges, which may be politically motivated.
These individuals “falsely claim that the judge had it in for them because of the judge’s race, gender, or ethnicity—or the political party of the President who appointed the judge,” Roberts wrote. “Some of these messages promote violence—for example, setting fire to or blowing up the courthouse where the target works.”
Regarding its workload, the Supreme Court had a markedly busier year in its latest twelve-month term compared to the previous term. The Court experienced a 2 percent increase in the total number of cases filed starting October 2023 — from 4,159 filings in the 2022 term to 4,223 filings in the 2023 term.
Roberts’s comments come as public trust in the Supreme Court is near its historic low, although favorable opinions of the Court have slightly rebounded since 2023. Republicans generally view the nation’s highest court in a more positive light, while Democrats view it more negatively.
Partisan views of the Supreme Court is partly fueled by the Democratic Party’s scrutiny of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who found themselves mired in alleged ethical lapses involving financial disclosures that called into question their impartiality in certain cases. As a result, the Court adopted its first-ever ethics code in November 2023.
Roberts gave federal judges a call to action at the end of his report, saying they “must do their part to preserve the public’s confidence in our institutions” and “must stay in our assigned areas of responsibility and do our level best to handle those responsibilities fairly.”
“We do so by confining ourselves to live ‘cases or controversies’ and maintaining a healthy respect for the work of elected officials on behalf of the people they represent,” the chief justice concluded. “I am confident that the judges in Article III and the corresponding officials in the other branches will faithfully discharge their duties with an eye toward achieving the ‘successful cooperation’ essential to our Nation’s continued success.”