The United States Supreme Court has historically been the source of great controversy ever since its conception.
The nature of the Court was specifically designed to remain independent in American politics.
But Chief Justice John Roberts just set off one alarm that has all Americans gripping their seats in concern.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy”
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, just recently issued a strong warning about the threat against total “judicial independence” just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
In his annual report, he shared the grave concerns he shared with his colleagues on the highest bench in the land on the current state of the federal judiciary.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy,” reminded Chief Justice Roberts. “Most cases have a winner and a loser.”
“Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system – sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics,” he began in his 15-page report.
“Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s,” he assured.
But Roberts then shared the concern that has been haunting him, alongside many other justices on the Court.
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” alerted Roberts. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving.”
“As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is ‘essential to the rule of law in any land,’ yet it ‘is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation,’” he memorialized.
“I urge all Americans to appreciate this inheritance from our founding generation and cherish its endurance,” added the Chief Justice.
The supreme nature of the rule of law must be protected
Roberts took a moment in his report to quote a prior Chief Justice, Charles Evans Hughes, who famously stated that all branches of the government “must work in successful cooperation” in order to “make possible the effective functioning of the department of government which is designed to safeguard with judicial impartiality and independence the interests of liberty.”
“Our political system and economic strength depend on the rule of law,” declared Roberts.
The famous landmark decision on Presidential Immunity by the Supreme Court, which was penned by Roberts, as well as the other monumental decision shutting down the attempt to remove Trump from the ballot were celebrated as massive victories by Trump and the GOP.
Following the decision, Democrats – including President Joe Biden himself – lost their minds in criticism of the court, and threatened to levy term limits and a new, enforcement code for the Supreme Court to adhere to.
Some Democrats, including at least one Republican legislator, went as far as demanding that President Biden outright reject a judicial decision made by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke FDA approval for the highly controversial chemical abortion drug called mifepristone.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court also levied a massive ruling last year that Biden’s plan to issue a massive student loan debt forgiveness plan via an executive order was illegal.
Biden, however, refused to acknowledge the High Court’s decision, and went through with his plan anyway, in complete defiance of the third branch of government.
But Trump had, too, gone to battle with Chief Justice Roberts in 2018 when Roberts snapped at Trump over his denouncement of a judge who tossed out his migrant asylum plan when Trump labeled him as an “Obama judge.”
Roberts had also fired shots at Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2020 over his comments surrounding the Supreme Court considering picking up what would eventually become a landmark abortion case.
The Chief Justice’s warning started with a story dating back to King George III, who snatched lifetime appointments of colonial judges away, noting that the King’s decision was “not well received.”
The warning came with Trump being set up for a second term in the White House as President and his boasting of what has been considered to be a very conservative agenda.
Democrats have already promised to challenge every line item on Trump’s agenda, which guarantees that some challenges will be faced before the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority is built by three justices who were appointed by Donald Trump during his first term in office.
Chief Justice Roberts also penned in his annual report that even if the Court’s decisions are extremely unpopular, or cause a defeat at any level for a White House administration, the other levels of government – including Congress – must be willing to defend the Court and enforce their decision in the name of protecting the rule of law.
Roberts used the famous 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated public schools as an example of a decision that had to be enforced by the federal government.
Roberts announces zero-tolerance for threats against Supreme Court Justices
In his report, Roberts announced that “attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
He explained that, while officials in public office, as well as ordinary Americans, reserve the right to criticize rulings delivered by the court, they should be fully aware that their statements can be inciting, and “prompt dangerous reactions by others.”
This concern was raised in response to a recent report by the U.S. Marshals Service which found that threats against federal judges have tripled in the last decade.
“State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were killed at their homes in 2022 and 2023,” Roberts pointed out.
“Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” asserted the Chief Justice.
Roberts’ warnings did not identify either political party and did not call out a single politician by name.
But it is important to note that total rejection of Supreme Court rulings, whether it be flaunting or refusal to comply, has come from the Democrat Party and President Joe Biden himself.
