Chief Justice John Roberts said on Dec. 31 that the federal judiciary faces growing challenges ranging from violent threats against judges, to disinformation, to elected officials urging that court rulings be ignored.
Roberts, who as chief justice of the United States both oversees the judicial branch of the federal government and presides over oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, made the comments in his annual year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary.
The new report, which comes as public approval of the Supreme Court remains near historic lows, did not include specific policy recommendations.
Roberts wrote that “violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats to defy lawfully entered judgments,” pose risks to “the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends.”…