US Chief Justice John Roberts has insisted that Supreme Court justices are not "political actors," pushing back against public outrage over recent rulings that have undermined the Voting Rights Act and benefited Donald Trump and his allies.
Speaking at a conference for judges and lawyers in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Roberts said: "I think, at a very basic level, people think we're making policy decisions, we're saying we think this is how things should be, as opposed to what the law provides. I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don't think is an accurate understanding of what we do."
The chief justice, a conservative nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005, acknowledged that some decisions spark controversy but argued the court is "simply not part of the political process." He also condemned threats against lower court judges, calling them "inappropriate" and potentially leading to "very serious problems."
Roberts leads a court where conservatives have held a six-justice majority since 2020. In recent years, the court has overturned the constitutional right to abortion, granted presidents immunity for official acts, and used the "shadow docket" to temporarily pause rulings against Trump's policies. Last week's decision on the Voting Rights Act has enabled Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps, potentially diluting the voting power of Black communities.
Not all rulings have favored the Trump administration. In February, the court found many of Trump's tariffs illegal. However, tensions among justices have risen. In a recent dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called the court's intervention in Louisiana's redistricting "unwarranted and unwise," prompting a sharp rebuke from Justice Samuel Alito, who described her arguments as "trivial" and "baseless."
