HERSHEY, Pa. — Supreme Court judges are not “political actors,” Chief Justice John Roberts declared Wednesday, asserting unfavorable court rulings are based exclusively on the law.
“I think, at a very basic level, people think that we’re making policy decisions, that we’re saying that we think this is the way things ought to be, rather than what the law provides,” he added. “I think they view us as political actors, but I don’t think that’s an accurate conception of what we do.”
His comments to a conference of judges and lawyers from the 3rd U.S. Circuit in Pennsylvania came at a moment of diminished public confidence in the court, and roughly a week after the court delivered a ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act.
The supreme court ruled that a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana was an unlawful racial gerrymander. The ruling gutted a Civil Rights era regulation that has expanded minority representation in Congress and paved the way for future redistricting around the country that might help Republican ambitions to take control of the House.
The conservative majority court has also handed down significant opinions in recent years removing the constitutional right to abortion, increasing gun rights and banning affirmative action in higher education.
Roberts didn’t point to any specific rulings in his comments, but said the court is “simply not part of the political process.”
He stated opinions are based on the Constitution, even if he disagrees with some conclusions. “One of the things we need to do is make unpopular decisions,” he remarked.
He said critics should criticize rulings not personalities. He decried the targeting of lower-court judges in the face of growing threats to the judiciary. That’s not proper and it can lead to really significant problems,” he said.
Republican President Donald Trump has personally attacked judges, including Roberts and other justices who ruled against him in the judgment invalidating tariffs the president imposed under an emergency-powers legislation.
