In his annual end-of-year report, Roberts says the independence of the judiciary is threatened by threats of violence, harassment, disinformation and defiance of court rulings.
Summary
Chief Justice John Roberts defended the judiciary against "illegitimate" attacks undermining its independence in his year-end report, citing violence, intimidation, disinformation, and defiance of rulings as critical threats.
He highlighted a rise in threats against judges, referencing protests following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and scrutiny over alleged ethics lapses, particularly involving Justice Clarence Thomas.
Roberts criticized political rhetoric questioning judicial impartiality and social media disinformation.
He also warned against political calls to ignore court decisions, emphasizing the need to uphold judicial authority amid ongoing controversies over recent rulings.
The legacy of the Roberts court will its spiral into institutionalized corruption. For a man who claims to hold the legitimacy of the court to be paramount, his resistance to any sort of oversight of the court's ethical standards will be how he is remembered. You can't restore faith in institutions by grandstanding against your accusers in a fruitless effort to deflect the valid criticisms of your colleagues.
Roberts also cited disinformation, exacerbated by social media and in some cases hostile foreign governments, as a problem, as it can "undermine confidence in the court system."
No John, the erosion of confidence is your own courts doing. You refuse to hold yourself to ethical standards every other branch of government does.
This is one of the most disturbing and discouraging things about our current era.
Clearly, the solution to the problem of people distrusting institutions because the officials in them are corrupt is to eliminate the corruption.
But this is far from the first time recently that I've seen an official express the idea that the problem is not that they in fact are corrupt, but that people point out their corruption - as if we're supposed to merely accept their corruption and grant them respect anyway, and somehow we're to blame for the problem because we won't do that.
It's astonishingly amoral. They're not merely, as is all too common amongst the ruling class, acting as if they're above the law, but overtly stating that they are, and faulting us for daring to treat them otherwise.
"How dare you make all of these criticisms about us, questioning our impartiality and suggesting we're corrupt! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get on Justice Thomas' free luxury RV and drive down to Harlan Crow's mansion for a much-needed vacation."
So we need more political calls to ignore court decisions, to degrade judicial authority from an illegitimate and corrupt institution.
John Roberts is scared of his power being questioned and has been for a long time. The conservative "judicial" movement has put a lot of effort into acquiring the power to rule as politicians in black robes and doesn't want anyone to take that away. That fear occasionally comes out in him giving token but ineffectual resistance to the bad decisions of his conservative teammates, but more often comes out as him criticizing anyone that would dare question why they should be listened to. Never does it involve actual efforts to bolster the court's legitimacy and curb its blatant corruption.
I don't even know why we listen to them. They reversed a previous decesion by the supreme court when the overturned Roe. So what they are saying is SCOTUS can be wrong. Why do they even exist then.
This stupid fuck thinks it's everyone else's fault. Judges shouldn't be able to escape this mess. You guys have your hands all over this mess. It's your fault!
Might be a symptom of a lifetime appointment with ultimate power in deciding how the lower classes live. He hasn't had to consider if he's wrong because there's no consequences if he is.