WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts, addressing the rising threats against judges, cautioned on Saturday that the intense rhetoric from elected officials could incite others to make threats or commit acts of violence.
While not naming names, Roberts hinted at Republican President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York when mentioning he felt compelled to publicly correct individuals in both parties recently.
“It gets entangled in the political debate, making it seem like a judge performing their duty is part of the issue,” Roberts stated at a meeting of lawyers and judges in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The risk, naturally, is that someone might act on that. We have indeed faced serious threats of violence and murder against judges just for executing their duties. So, I believe political figures from all sides should bear that in mind.”
Roberts appeared at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judicial conference on the day after the Supreme Court issued the final decisions of its term, including a major victory for Trump that limits judges’ ability to use court orders with nationwide reach to block his agenda. C-Span carried Roberts’ conversation with Judge Albert Diaz, the 4th Circuit’s chief judge.
Roberts first took issue with Trump’s comments in 2018, when Roberts responded to Trump’s description of a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.” In March, Roberts rejected calls for impeaching judges, shortly after Trump demanded the removal of one who ruled against his deportation plans.
In 2020, Roberts called out Schumer for remarks that Roberts termed inappropriate and threatening after the senator said Trump-nominated Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch “will pay the price” for votes in a then-pending Louisiana abortion case. Schumer later said he should not have used those words.
Two years later, with the court on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for abortion, police arrested an armed man outside Kavanaugh’s home in suburban Washington. In April, Nicholas John Roske pleaded guilty to trying to kill Kavanaugh.
