Chief Justice Roberts Says Judicial Independence Under Threat

Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, as he sits with fellow Supreme Court justices for a group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, on Nov. 30, 2018. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Chief Justice John Roberts said on Dec. 31 that the federal judiciary faces growing challenges ranging from violent threats against judges, to disinformation, to elected officials urging that court rulings be ignored.

Roberts, who as chief justice of the United States both oversees the judicial branch of the federal government and presides over oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, made the comments in his annual year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary.

The new report, which comes as public approval of the Supreme Court remains near historic lows, did not include specific policy recommendations.

Roberts wrote that “violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats to defy lawfully entered judgments,” pose risks to “the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends.”

Even though elected officials have every right to criticize judicial decisions, their statements can “prompt dangerous reactions by others,” Roberts wrote.

Although “some tension between the branches of the government is inevitable and criticism of judicial interpretations of the people’s laws is as old as the Republic itself,” some elected officials have “raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings.”

“Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed,” he wrote.

And when executive officials will not enforce court rulings, the other governmental branches have to step in and carry them out to reinforce judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, he wrote.

For example, he wrote, when the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of public schools in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the federal executive branch intervened to enforce the ruling despite opposition from officials in various states.

“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy,” he wrote.

Judges’ rulings “have shaped the Nation’s development and checked the excesses of the other branches,” but not all criticism of judicial rulings in recent years has been constructive, he wrote.

Roberts said the U.S. Marshals Service has said “hostile threats and communications directed at judges has more than tripled over the past decade.“ Over the past five years in particular, the agency has investigated more than “1,000 serious threats against federal judges” that have resulted in charges being laid against about 50 individuals.

From 1979 to 1989, two federal district judges and one federal circuit judge “were killed for doing their jobs.” Close relatives of federal judges were killed in 2005 and 2020 by perpetrators who wanted to hurt the judges who presided over their cases. And in 2022 and 2023, state judges in Maryland and Wisconsin were killed after making adverse rulings, he wrote.

Judges also have to stand on guard against disinformation, which, according to the report, “threatens judicial independence.” The courts are not well-suited to address the problem because “judges typically speak only through their decisions.”

Hostile foreign governments have also stepped up their attacks on the federal government, including on judges, by hacking and purveying false information that presents a false picture of court rulings “using fake or exaggerated narratives to foment discord within our democracy.”

Because “these actors distort our judicial system in ways that compromise the public’s confidence in our processes and outcomes, we must as a Nation publicize the risks and take all appropriate measures to stop them,” Roberts wrote.