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DENVER (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts defended the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, saying its role should not be called into question just because people disagree with its decisions.
When asked
to reflect on the last year at the court in his first public appearance since
the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Roberts said Friday he was
concerned that lately some critics of the court’s controversial decisions have
questioned the legitimacy of the court, which he said was a mistake. He did not
mention any specific cases or critics by name.
“If the
court doesn’t retain its legitimate function of interpreting the constitution,
I’m not sure who would take up that mantle. You don’t want the political
branches telling you what the law is, and you don’t want public opinion to be
the guide about what the appropriate decision is,” Roberts said while being
interviewed by two judges from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals at its conference in Colorado Springs.
Roberts
described the last year as an unusual and difficult one, pointing to the public
not be allowed inside the court, closed in 2020 because of the coronavirus
pandemic, as one hardship. He also said it was “gut wrenching” to drive into
the Supreme Court that was surrounded by barricades every day.
The barriers
were installed in May when protests erupted outside the court and outside the
homes of some Supreme Court justices after there was an unprecedented leak of a
draft opinion indicating the justices were planning to overturn Roe v. Wade,
which provided women constitutional protections for abortion for nearly 50
years. The barriers are gone and the public will be allowed back inside when
the court’s new session begins in October but an investigation ordered by Roberts
into the leak continues.
Speaking at
the same conference Thursday, Justice Neil Gorsuch said it is “terribly
important” to identify the leaker and said he is expecting a report on the
progress of the investigation, “I hope soon.”
Gorsuch
condemned the leak, as have other justices who have addressed it publicly.
“Improper
efforts to influence judicial decision-making, from whatever side, from
whomever, are a threat to the judicial decision-making process,” Gorsuch said.
Reporters from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg attended the talk.
The leaked
draft was largely incorporated into Justice Samuel Alito’s final opinion in
June that overturned Roe v. Wade in a case upholding Mississippi’s law banning
abortion after 15 weeks. The ruling paved the way for severe abortion
restrictions or bans in nearly half of U.S. states.
In June’s
ruling, Roberts, appointed to the court in 2005 by former President George W.
Bush, voted to uphold Mississippi’s law but he did not join the conservative
justices in also overturning Roe v. Wade, as well as Planned Parenthood v.
Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to end a pregnancy. He wrote
that there was no need to overturn the broad precedents to uphold the state
law, saying he would take “a more measured course.”
Roberts has
spoken out repeatedly about the importance of the judiciary’s independence and
to rebut perceptions of the court as a political institution not much different
than Congress or the presidency.
Opinion
polls since the leak and the release of the final abortion decision, though,
have shown a sharp drop in approval of the court and confidence in the
institution.
When asked
what the public might not know about how the court works, Roberts emphasized
the collegiality among the justices and the court’s tradition of shaking hands
before starting conferences or taking the bench. After the justices might
disagree about a decision, everyone eats together in the court’s dining room
where they talk about everything but work, he said. He said it’s not borne out
of “fake affection” but a respect that comes from the push and pull of
explaining ideas and listening to the responses to them.
“We have a
common calling and we act like it,” he said.
Associated
Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report from Washington.
Follow AP’s
coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.