With security threats to Supreme Court justices still a fresh memory, Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday praised programs protecting judges, saying, “We have to support judges by ensuring their safety.”
Roberts and other conservative Supreme Court justices were the subject of protests, some in their homes, after the May leak of the court’s decision that ultimately struck down constitutional protections for abortion. Justice Samuel Alito said the leaks made conservative judges “targets for assassination.” And in June, a man armed with a gun, knife and zip tie was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Cavanaugh, whose vote was critical in overturning the court’s Roe v. Wade decision, after threatening to kill the justice.
Writing in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary, Roberts did not specifically mention the abortion decision, but the case and its response seemed clear in his mind.
“Judicial opinions speak for themselves, and in our free country there is no compulsion to agree with them. Indeed, we frequently judge dissent — sometimes harshly — from the opinions of our colleagues, and we explain why in public writings about the cases before us,” Roberts wrote.
Polls since the abortion ruling show public confidence in the court is at historic lows. And two of Roberts’ liberal colleagues who dissented on the abortion issue, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, have said the court needs to worry about overturning precedent and appearing political.
After the leaks and threats to Kavanaugh, lawmakers passed legislation increasing security protections for judges and their families. Separately, in December, lawmakers passed legislation protecting personal information, including the addresses of federal judges.
The law is named after U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’ son, 20-year-old Daniel Anderle, who was killed in the family’s New Jersey home by a man before whom the case was filed.
Roberts thanked members of Congress for their “attention to judicial security needs.” And he said programs that protect judges are “essential to keeping the court system running.”
Writing about judicial protection, Roberts referred to Judge Ronald N. told the story of Davis, who ordered the integration of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in September 1957. Davis’ decision followed the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional and rejected Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus’s attempt to block school integration.
Davis was “physically threatened for obeying the law,” but the judge was “absolute,” Roberts said.
“The judicial system cannot and should not cower. The events in Little Rock teach the importance of the rule of law rather than the mob,” he wrote.
Roberts noted that officials are currently working to recreate the courtroom that Davis presided over in 1957. Roberts said the judge’s bench and other artifacts from the courtroom used by Davis have been saved and will be installed in a recreated courtroom at the federal courthouse in Little. Rock “so these important artifacts will once again be used to court.”
Before that happens, however, the judge’s bench will be on display as an exhibit at the Supreme Court starting in the fall and for the next several years, he said.
“The exhibit introduces visitors to how the federal court system works, to the history of racial segregation and segregation in our country, and to Thurgood Marshall’s incredible contributions as an attorney,” Roberts said. Marshall, who argued Brown v. Board of Education, became the Supreme Court’s first black justice in 1967.
The Supreme Court is still dealing with complex issues related to caste. The two cases deal with the term affirmative action, and the court’s conservative majority is expected to use them to overturn decades of rulings that have allowed colleges to take race into account in admissions. In another case, the justices could undermine the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crown jewel of the civil rights movement.
The justices will hear their first arguments of 2023 on January 9.