Denver – Chief Justice John Roberts has defended the Supreme Court’s authority to interpret the Constitution, saying that its role should not be questioned simply because people do not agree with its decisions.
When asked to reflect last year in court on his first public appearance since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Roberts said Friday he was concerned that some critics of the court’s controversial decisions had recently questioned the legality of the court, which he said was a mistake. . He did not mention any specific cases or critics by name.
“If the court does not retain its legitimate function of interpreting the Constitution, I’m not sure who will take that burden. You don’t want the political branches to tell you what the law is, and you don’t want an advertisement,” Roberts said as he was cross-examined by two judges of the Denver-based Tenth United States Court of Appeals in Her conference in Colorado Springs: “Opinion to guide appropriate decision.”
Roberts described the past year as unusual and difficult, citing not allowing the public into the court, which closed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, as one of the difficulties. He also said it was “painful” to enter the barricades high court every day.
Barriers were erected in May when protests erupted outside the court and outside the homes of some Supreme Court justices after an unprecedented leak of an opinion draft suggesting judges were planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has provided women with constitutional protections for abortion for nearly 50 years. The barricades are gone and the public will be allowed to go inside when the new court hearing begins in October, but the investigation Roberts ordered into the leak continues.
Speaking at the same conference on Thursday, Judge Neil Gorsuch said it was “very important” to identify the leaker and said he expected a report on the investigation’s progress, “hopefully soon.”
Gorsuch condemned the leak, as did other justices who have spoken out about it.
“Inappropriate efforts to influence judicial decision-making, from any side and from any side, pose a threat to judicial decision-making,” Gorsuch said. The talk was attended by journalists from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
The leaked draft was largely incorporated into Judge Samuel Alito’s final opinion in June who struck down Roe v. Wade in a case endorsing a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. The decision paved the way for severe restrictions or bans on abortion in nearly half of the US states.
In the June ruling, Roberts, appointed to court in 2005 by former President George W. Bush, voted to uphold the Mississippi law but did not join conservative justices in setting aside Roe v. Wade, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that reaffirmed the The right to terminate a pregnancy. He wrote that there was no need to repeal the broad precedent to support the state law, saying it would take a “more subtle course.”
Roberts has repeatedly spoken of the importance of judicial independence and disproved perceptions of the court as a political institution not so different from Congress or the presidency.
However, polls since the leak and the issuance of the final abortion decision have shown a sharp decline in court approval and confidence in the institution.
When asked what the public may not know about how the Court operates, Roberts emphasized the spirit of collegiality among judges and the Court’s tradition of shaking hands before conferences began or the Court took over. After the judges disagree over a decision, everyone eats together in the court dining room where they talk about everything but work, he said. He said it does not stem from “false affection” but the respect that comes from pushing and pulling to explain ideas and listen to responses to them.
“We have a common call and we are acting accordingly,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report from Washington.
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