Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts said during a speech at Georgetown Law that the rule of law is “endangered,” a statement that some believe takes aim at President Donald Trump.
Coupled with describing the rule of law as being “endangered,” Roberts warned against the “trashing of justices,” Politico reported.
“The notion that rule of law governs is the basic proposition,” Roberts said. “Certainly as a matter of theory, but also as a matter of practice, we need to stop and reflect every now and then how rare that is, certainly rare throughout history, and rare in the world today.”
“The court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized, so long as it is in terms of the decision, really, and not ad hominem against the justices. I just think that doesn’t do any good,” he added.
Roberts has criticized efforts to impeach judges.
“The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president,” he said last week, going on to explain that “impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions.”
In March, Roberts issued a statement targeting President Trump’s call to impeach a federal judge who halted the deportation of Venezuelan gang members.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
