Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts held a public appearance on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of an independent judiciary, with Donald Trump and his allies doubled down on the court’s defense, accusing the so-called “activist judges” of overstating the statistics.
During a fireside chat about judicial independence in Buffalo, New York, Roberts responded with no uncertainty that the role of the federal court is to “rule the case, but in the process, examine the excess of Congress or executives.”
He added that the character “does require a certain degree of independence.”
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President Donald Trump shook hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Melania Trump and his family at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2025. (By Reuters chips somodevilla/pool)
Roberts' remarks are not new. But they came, and Trump and his allies opposed the federal judge who suspended or stopped a key part of the president's agenda. (Some of the rulings they issued with were from judges appointed by Trump during his first term.)
The Supreme Court was originally scheduled to hear the many compelling cases and emergency appeals filed by the Trump administration in the coming months that are almost certain to keep the High Court focused for the foreseeable future.
These include Trump’s executive orders that prohibit trans service members from serving in the U.S. military, resume jobs as fired federal employees and indicate whether children whose parents illegally entered the U.S. and were born here should obtain citizenship. Next week's oral debate on the last case.
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Chief Justice John Roberts, to the right, spoke with U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo during a fireside chat in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Roberts talked for hours with U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo, a high-risk hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C.
There, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg spent over an hour grilling Justice Department lawyers to learn about their use of the Alien Enemy Act, deporting hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador earlier this year.
Boasberg's March 15 order temporarily blocked Trump's use of law sending immigrants to El Salvador prisons, which drew anger from the White House and Congress, where some Trump allies had previously surfaced to improvise.
Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at the 125th anniversary celebration in the U.S. District Court in Western New York on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Roberts made a rare public statement when a call from an impeachment boasberg or any federal judge was released in his speech Wednesday.
"Impossession is not your disagreement about the decision," Roberts said, adding that he had already spoken about it in an earlier statement.
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"For more than two centuries, it has been determined that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreements about judicial decisions," he said in a statement issued shortly after Roberts proposed the idea of impeachment boasberg, he said.
"The normal appeal review process is for this purpose," he said in a statement.