Chief Justice Roberts laments public perception of US Supreme Court as ‘political actors’

By Andrew Chung

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania, May 6 (Reuters) – U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts expressed concern on Wednesday about the public perception of the Supreme Court as an institution driven primarily by political outcomes rather than the law at a time when some prominent voices have raised questions about the top U.S. judicial body’s legitimacy. 

Roberts, who has led the court since 2005, appeared to acknowledge dimming public approval of the court, shown in opinion polls over the past few years, as its conservative majority continues to push American law dramatically rightward.

“At a very basic level people think we’re making policy decisions,” Roberts told an audience of judges, attorneys and law students in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

“I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do,” Roberts said.

Roberts, appointed as chief justice by Republican former President George W. Bush, is seen as deeply conservative but also concerned about the court’s institutional credibility and public perception. 

Its current 6-3 conservative majority was established in 2020 when President Donald Trump made a third appointment of a justice to a lifetime position on the bench. Since then, it has delivered landmark rulings rolling back abortion rights and race-conscious affirmative action practices, expanding gun rights, expanding religious rights, limiting transgender rights and restricting federal regulatory power. 

In another landmark ruling last week, the court’s conservatives gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act – making it harder for minorities to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under the landmark civil rights law. The ruling was a victory for Louisiana Republicans and the Trump administration.

In a ruling authored by Roberts in 2024, the court granted Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution over his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, bolstering his bid to regain the presidency by effectively delaying a trial that ultimately never took place.

Since Trump returned to the presidency last year, the court has repeatedly taken emergency actions to let his far-reaching executive actions take effect pending legal challenges. In one setback for Trump, the court in another ruling authored by Roberts struck down in February Trump’s signature global tariffs issued under a law meant for use in national emergencies.

Interviewed on stage by a federal judge on Wednesday, Roberts was asked how the Supreme Court is misunderstood. Roberts said that Supreme Court justices are “not simply part of the political process … I’m not sure the people grasp that as much as is appropriate.” 

KAGAN’S CONCERNS

In 2022, Justice Elena Kagan, one of the court’s three liberal members, said its legitimacy could be imperiled if Americans come to view the justices as trying to impose personal preferences on society. Kagan said that a “court is legitimate when it’s acting like a court,” by respecting past precedents and not asserting authority to make political or policy decisions.

“When courts become extensions of the political process, when people see them as extensions of the political process, once people see them as trying just to impose personal preferences on a society, irrespective of the law, that’s when there’s a problem,” Kagan said.

Kagan did not mention any specific rulings in her comments about the court’s legitimacy, but made her remarks in the aftermath of the abortion and gun rights rulings.

Some Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars also have indicated concerns. Referring to the conservative justices, Senator Edward Markey in 2024 criticized the “illegitimate, extremist U.S. Supreme Court majority.” 

Roberts on Wednesday repeated his concerns about personal attacks and hostility directed at judges. He said criticism of rulings is legitimate but criticism of the judges themselves is not. 

“As soon as that happens, that’s not appropriate and it can lead to very serious problems,” Roberts said. 

Roberts did not name Trump, who has persistently launched verbal attacks on the judiciary after rulings impeding his agenda. 

The Supreme Court repeatedly has been called upon to rule in cases involving Trump’s expansive view of presidential powers. It is expected by the end of next month to rule in more major cases involving Trump including his efforts to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and restrict birthright citizenship.

Trump condemned Roberts and the five other justices who ruled against him on tariffs and made an unsubstantiated claim that the court was swayed by foreign interests. Trump also called out two of the three conservative justices he appointed during his first term in office, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, calling the decision “an embarrassment to their families.”

Last month, again without naming Trump, Roberts cast personal attacks directed at judges in graver terms than usual.

“The problem sometimes is that the criticism ​can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities, and you see … that it’s more ⁠directed in a personal way,” Roberts said. “And that, frankly, can be quite dangerous.”

“It’s got to stop,” added Roberts.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)