DELTA — Chief Justice John Roberts defended the Supreme Court’s constitutional interpretation power, arguing that it shouldn’t be questioned simply because some people don’t agree with its rulings.
In his first public appearance following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Chief Justice John Roberts was asked to reflect on the past year at the court. Roberts said Friday that he was concerned that some recent critics of the court’s contentious decisions had questioned the court’s legitimacy, which he said was a mistake. He made no particular reference to any cases or criticism by name.
“I’m not sure who would take up the mantle of interpreting the constitution if the court lost its rightful role.
You don’t want the government telling you the law, and you don’t want the general public deciding the right course of action. “Roberts made this statement while being questioned by two judges from the Colorado Springs-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has its headquarters in Denver.
Roberts characterized the previous year as uncommon and challenging, citing the court’s closure in 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic as one challenge. He added that daily access to the Supreme Court, which was blocked off by barricades, was “gut-wrenching.”
The barriers were put up in May, following unheard-of leaks of draught opinions from the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, which gave women constitutional protections for abortion for almost 50 years, sparked demonstrations outside the court and outside the residences of individual justices.
When the court’s next session starts in October, the barriers will be removed, and the public will be allowed back inside, but Roberts’ inquiry into the leak is still ongoing.
Gorsuch Believes the Leak Poses a Risk to the Legal System
Justice Neil Gorsuch stated at the same conference on Thursday that it is “terribly vital” to find the leaker and that he anticipates receiving a report on the investigation’s status “I hope soon.”
Gorsuch and the other justices who publicly spoke against the leak did so.
According to Gorsuch, the judicial decision-making process is threatened by improper attempts to influence it from any side or anyone. Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reporters were present at the event.
The final judgment by Justice Samuel Alito, who overturned Roe v. Wade in a case upholding Mississippi’s law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks, mainly incorporated the leaked text.
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The decision opened the door for harsh abortion limitations or outright bans in over half of the states in the U.S.
Roberts, appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2005, voted to uphold Mississippi’s law in the June decision. Still, he did not concur with the conservative justices in overturning Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
The 1992 ruling reaffirmed the right to end a pregnancy. He declared in his letter that he would follow “a more cautious route” rather than overturning the well-established precedents to defend the state law.
The Public Doesn’t Trust the Supreme Court, According to Surveys
Roberts has regularly spoken out to support the judiciary’s independence and dispel the myth that the court is merely another political department of government equal to Congress and the presidency.
Since the leak and publishing of the final abortion judgment, opinion polls have shown a sharp drop in support for the court and confidence in the organization.
When asked what the general public might not be aware of about how the court operates, Roberts remarked on the justices’ camaraderie and the court’s custom of shaking hands before beginning conferences or taking the bench.
He said that after a possible disagreement among the justices on a ruling, everyone ate together in the court’s dining room and engaged in non-work-related talk. He asserted that it is not due to “fake fondness” but rather to respect earned through the challenge of presenting ideas and hearing others’ reactions to them.
We act as if we have a common calling, he observed.