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It was one of the most controversial terms in Supreme Court history, with the shocking leak of a draft opinion that finally overturned half a century of abortion rights, public polls showing record disapproval of the work of the court and the bitter dissension among the judges themselves about the legitimacy of the court.
But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. chose not to address those or any other controversies in its “Year-End Annual Report on the Federal Judiciary,” released Saturday. Instead, he focused on a high note from the judiciary’s past: a federal district judge’s efforts to implement school desegregation at Little Rock Central High School after the Court’s landmark decision Supreme Court of 1954 in 1954. Brown v. Board of Education.
“The law requires all judges to take an oath to do their job without fear or favor, but we must support judges by ensuring their safety,” Roberts wrote in his nine-page report. “A judicial system cannot and must not live in fear. The events in Little Rock teach about the importance of government by law rather than by the mob.”
Roberts thanked Congress for the recent passage of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, named after the son of New Jersey District Judge Esther Salas. Anderl was killed in 2020 when he opened the door to his home in what was supposed to be an attack on the judge.
The legislation allows judges to protect on the Internet certain personal information about themselves and their families, such as home addresses, some financial information and employment information of their spouses. It has an exception for media reports, but some transparency groups have worried that a broad interpretation of the law could inhibit monitoring efforts.
Roberts also commended “the United States Marshals, court security officers, federal protective service officers, Supreme Court police officers and their partners” for “working to ensure that judges can sit in courtrooms to serve the public in the coming year and beyond.”
This is as close as Roberts came in his 18th report to commenting on the current situation. The chief justice and other conservative members of the court have seen protesters outside since a draft opinion was leaked in May. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationin which the majority of the court overruled Roe v. Wade federal guarantee of the right to abortion.
A California man is facing attempted murder charges after he was arrested outside Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s suburban Maryland home with weapons and a plan to break into the courthouse.
Roberts announced an investigation into the leak of the draft Dobbs opinion in the spring, just days after it was published in Politico, calling it a “singular and egregious breach of … trust that is an affront to the court and to the community of civil servants who work here.”
He ordered Supreme Court Marshal Gail A. Curley to investigate the leak, saying that “to the extent this betrayal of the Court’s confidences was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed.”
The man accused of threatening to kill Kavanaugh has been charged
But Roberts has not publicly mentioned the investigation since then. Last summer, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said the justices expected reports from Roberts on the work, but nothing has been exposed beyond leaked accounts of disagreements between the justices and their clerks over attempts to examine cell phone records.
It’s just a controversy to swallow up the court. Several media outlets reported what a former evangelical anti-abortion leader said were efforts to encourage conservative justices to be bold in rulings on the procedure. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. denied a specific allegation by the Rev. Rob Schenck in the New York Times that the justice or his wife disclosed to conservative donors the outcome of a pending case in 2014 on contraceptives and religious rights.
Alito denies revealing the outcome of the 2014 case in advance
Congressional leaders demanded that the court investigate, but Roberts through a legal adviser said there was little to investigate after both Alito and the person who allegedly gave the information denied it.
Democrats in Congress have also questioned whether Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ efforts to encourage state lawmakers and White House officials not to give up efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, reported by The Washington Post and others, should push her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas. , to recuse himself from litigation related to this matter.
These lawmakers have demanded the court create a more formal code of conduct to deal with these issues.
Three years ago, Justice Elena Kagan told a congressional committee that the justices were looking “very seriously” at having a Code of Judicial Conduct that applies only to the US Supreme Court. But beyond Roberts saying those decisions should be made by the judiciary alone, the chief justice has passed up an opportunity to be specific about the plans.
Some thought the chief justice might return to these issues in his annual message, traditionally released on New Year’s Eve.
Instead, Roberts highlighted the courage of Judge Ronald N. Davies, brought from North Dakota to preside over efforts to desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School over the objections of Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus.
The bench from which Davies presided will be brought to the Supreme Court in 2023 as part of an exhibit on the court’s role in school desegregation and specifically the efforts of Thurgood Marshall, who argued brown and later because the first black Supreme Court Justice.
“The real bank will give visitors the opportunity to be transported back in time to the events of Little Rock 65 years ago,” Roberts wrote. “The exhibit will introduce visitors to how the federal court system works, the history of racial segregation and desegregation in our country, and Thurgood Marshall’s impressive contributions as a lawyer before he became a justice.”