Asked to reflect on the past year on the court in his first public appearance since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Roberts said he was concerned that recently some critics of the court’s controversial rulings have questioned the court’s legitimacy. he said it was wrong. He did not name any specific cases or critics. “If the court does not retain its legitimate function of interpreting the constitution, I am not sure who would take up that mantle. You don’t want the political branches to tell you what the law is, and you don’t want public opinion to be the guide as to what the appropriate decision is,” Roberts said while being interviewed by two Denver-based U.S. 10th Circuit judges. District Court of Appeals at its meeting in Colorado Springs. Roberts described last year as an unusual and difficult year, pointing to the public not being allowed to enter the stadium, which was closed in 2020 due to the pandemic, as a difficulty. He also said it was “devastating” to drive to the barricaded Supreme Court every day. The roadblocks were put in place in May when protests broke out outside the courthouse and outside the homes of some Supreme Court justices after an unprecedented leak of a draft opinion showed the justices planned to overturn Roe v. Wade, which gave women constitutional protections for abortion for nearly 50 years. The barriers are gone and the public will be allowed back in when the new court session begins in October, but the investigation into the leak ordered by Roberts continues. Speaking at the same conference on Thursday, Judge Neil Gorsuch said it was “tremendously important” to identify the user and said he expected a report on the progress of the investigation, “hopefully soon.” Gorsuch condemned the leak, as did other justices who have publicly mentioned it. “Improper attempts to influence judicial decision-making, by any side, by anyone, are a threat to the judicial decision-making process,” Gorsuch said. Reporters from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg attended the speech. The leaked draft was largely incorporated into Justice Samuel Alito’s final opinion in June that overturned Roe v. Wade in a case upholding Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks. The decision paved the way for strict restrictions or bans on abortion in nearly half of US states. In the June ruling, Roberts, who was appointed to the court in 2005 by former President George W. Bush, voted for the Mississippi law but did not join the conservative justices in also overturning Roe v. Wade, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey. the 1992 decision that affirmed the right to terminate a pregnancy. He wrote that there was no need to overturn general precedents to uphold state law, saying he would take “a more measured course.” Roberts has repeatedly spoken about the importance of judicial independence and countering perceptions of the court as a political institution not much different from Congress or the presidency. However, polls since the final abortion decision was leaked and made public have shown a sharp drop in the court’s approval and trust in the institution. When asked what the public might not know about how the court works, Roberts pointed to the collegiality among the justices and the court’s tradition of shaking hands before beginning sessions or taking the bench. Since the justices may disagree on a decision, they all eat together in the court’s dining room where they talk about everything but work, he said. He said it comes not from “fake affection,” but from respect that comes from the push and pull of explaining ideas and hearing responses to them. “We have a common calling and we act like it,” he said.
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report from Washington.
