Judges’ safety is “essential” to the judicial system

With security threats to Supreme Court justices still fresh in his mind, Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday praised programs that protect judges, saying “we must support judges by ensuring their safety.” .

Roberts and other conservative Supreme Court justices were the subject of protests, some at their homes, after the leak in May of the court’s decision that finally removed constitutional protections for abortion. Judge Samuel Alito has said the leak made conservative judges “assassination targets.” And in June, a man carrying a gun, knife and cable ties was arrested near the home of Judge Brett Kavanaugh after threatening to kill the judge, whose vote was key to overturning the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

Roberts, writing his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary, did not specifically mention the abortion decision, but the case and the reaction to it seemed to be part of his sentiments.

“Judicial opinions speak for themselves and there is no obligation in our free country to agree with them. In fact, we judges frequently, sometimes strongly, disagree with the views of our colleagues, and we explain why in public briefs on the cases before us,” Roberts wrote.

Polls after the abortion decision show that public trust in the court is at record lows. And two of Roberts’s liberal colleagues who dissented in the abortion case, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, have said the court should be concerned with overturning precedent and appearing political.

After the leak and the threat to Kavanaugh, lawmakers passed a law increasing security protections for judges and their families. Separately, in December, lawmakers passed a law that protects the personal information of federal judges, including their addresses.

The law is named for U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’ son, Daniel Anderl, 20, who was murdered at the family’s New Jersey home by a man who previously had a case before her.

Roberts thanked members of Congress “who are addressing judicial security needs.” And he said that programs that protect judges are “essential to operating a court system.”

Writing about judicial security, Roberts told the story of Judge Ronald N. Davies, who in September 1957 ordered the integration of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Davies’ decision followed the Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional and rejected Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus’s attempt to halt school integration.

Davies “was physically threatened for following the law,” but the judge “didn’t flinch,” Roberts said.

“A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear. The Little Rock events teach about the importance of the rule of law rather than the mob,” she wrote.

Roberts noted that officials are currently working to replicate the courtroom that Davies presided over in 1957. Roberts said the judge’s bench used by Davies and other courtroom artifacts have been preserved and will be installed in the recreated courtroom. in a federal courthouse in Little Rock “so that these important artifacts will be used to hold court once again.”

The Supreme Court is still grappling with difficult issues related to race. Two cases of this term deal with affirmative action, and the court’s conservative majority is expected to use them to reverse decades of decisions that allow colleges to take race into account in admissions. Otherwise, judges could weaken 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.

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