Chief Justice Roberts Calls for Courage Amid Attacks from Trump

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During a rare public speaking engagement at Rice University on Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that it’s dangerous for prominent public figures to personally attack judges and their rulings. Although he didn’t mention President Donald Trump by name, many in the audience noted that the remarks came two days after a pointed Truth Social post blasted Roberts and five other judges for voting against tariffs, calling the Supreme Court a “weaponized and unjust political organization.” Roberts was at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy on Tuesday to address “the state of the American judiciary.” The chief justice has led the Supreme Court since 2005 and was appointed by President George W. Bush. Criticism comes with the territory of being a Supreme Court justice, Roberts said. “It can be healthy,” he said. “We don’t believe we’re flawless. It’s important that our decisions are subjected to scrutiny. The problem is that criticism, sometimes, can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities and you see that it’s more directed in a personal way. That, frankly, can actually be quite dangerous.” “Personally directed hostility is dangerous, and it’s got to stop,” he added. Roberts also addressed, again without naming Trump, the belief among some critics that Supreme Court justices are tapped to carry out the agenda of the President who appointed them. In 2018, Roberts publicly rebuked Trump for referring to a Supreme Court colleague as “an Obama judge.” “The notion that we carry forward the views of the people who appointed us is absurd,” Roberts said on Tuesday. “President George W. Bush appointed me 20 years ago. The issues now, today, nobody would have thought those were going to be a big deal 20 years ago. History is full of examples of presidents appointing people and being really surprised at how they turned out, going both ways.” In 2025, Roberts chastised Trump for demanding that federal judge James Boasberg be removed because he blocked the deportation of migrants. At the time, Roberts said impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, interviews Chief Justice John Roberts at Rice University on March 17. Credit: April Towery Roberts, 71, is a conservative characterized by analysts as an institutionalist who cares about protecting the Supreme Court’s reputation. Baker Institute Director David Satterfield, who introduced Roberts on Tuesday, said, “In your confirmation hearings, you described the role of a judge as that of an umpire, calling balls and strikes. That metaphor spoke to something deeper about your approach to the law. Discipline, restraint, and a clear understanding of the role of the Court in our constitutional system: those qualities have defined your tenure as chief justice.” Roberts has been criticized recently for “devising attacks to undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, founded by former law clerks of the late Justice William J. Brennan Jr. On Tuesday, Roberts didn’t talk about the Voting Rights Act or the pending redistricting cases that seek to weaken it. He instead focused on lauding the history of the founding fathers and calling for political figures to exhibit the same courage their predecessors did, particularly as the United States celebrates this summer the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “I think we should be focused on courage,” he said. “What [the founding fathers] wanted was life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Roberts shared a story from his days as a clerk for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who suggested that the young protege condense legal opinions by preserving only the topic sentences and moving everything else into the footnotes. Roberts agreed, and Rehnquist responded by saying, “Now take out the footnotes.” Roberts was originally supposed to replace retiring Sandra Day O’Connor but instead was appointed chief justice following Rehnquist’s death. The chief justice said his choice to visit Rice’s Baker Institute for the second time in 13 years was simple. Forty-five years ago, when he was working as a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration, “I was the lowest on the flowchart, and at the top was Mr. [James] Baker, not yet Secretary Baker.” “I got used to doing pretty much what he told me to do,” Roberts said. “I got a letter from Secretary Baker a few months ago inviting me to come here, and he ended by saying, ‘I look forward to your favorable response.’ I’m still used to saying yes.” The post Chief Justice Roberts Calls for Courage Amid Attacks from Trump appeared first on Houston Press.

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