Summary
Chief Justice John Roberts defended the judiciary against “illegitimate” attacks undermining its independence in his year-end report, citing violence, intimidation, disinformation, and defiance of rulings as critical threats.
He highlighted a rise in threats against judges, referencing protests following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and scrutiny over alleged ethics lapses, particularly involving Justice Clarence Thomas.
Roberts criticized political rhetoric questioning judicial impartiality and social media disinformation.
He also warned against political calls to ignore court decisions, emphasizing the need to uphold judicial authority amid ongoing controversies over recent rulings.
This is one of the most disturbing and discouraging things about our current era.
Clearly, the solution to the problem of people distrusting institutions because the officials in them are corrupt is to eliminate the corruption.
But this is far from the first time recently that I’ve seen an official express the idea that the problem is not that they in fact are corrupt, but that people point out their corruption - as if we’re supposed to merely accept their corruption and grant them respect anyway, and somehow we’re to blame for the problem because we won’t do that.
It’s astonishingly amoral. They’re not merely, as is all too common amongst the ruling class, acting as if they’re above the law, but overtly stating that they are, and faulting us for daring to treat them otherwise.