The top adviser to Chief Justice John Roberts said the Supreme Court’s leader is cautious about wading into political disputes in order to protect the “long game” of ensuring judicial independence.
Robert Dow, a federal judge who serves as counselor to Roberts, defended the chief justice after criticism that his annual end-of-year report contained a thinly veiled rebuke of incoming President Donald Trump as he spoke out against rising intimidation and threats against judges.
“There is of course no place for violence directed at judges for doing their job. Yet, in recent years, there has been a significant uptick in identified threats at all levels of the judiciary,” Roberts wrote on Dec. 31, 2024.
Speaking Wednesday at the 6th Circuit Judicial Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, Dow said Trump’s incoming presidency had no influence on Roberts’ report, claiming that a “full draft of it” was completed before the 2024 election, according to Politico.
Dow added that Roberts, widely seen as the most influential member of the court’s conservative majority, is highly aware of the risks of the judiciary being drawn into partisan disputes.
“The problem for our branch is that we have a very tiny megaphone, and if we use our megaphone too often, we risk losing what I would say is the long game, and the long game is to preserve our independence,” Dow said.
Roberts’ year-end report did not name Trump, but it came after the 79-year-old repeatedly attacked judges overseeing his legal battles. Roberts condemned those who have “raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings” and warned that such “dangerous suggestions” must be rejected.
The report was cited as underscoring the risk of a constitutional clash if the executive branch and the nation’s highest court come into conflict during Trump’s time in office.
In March, Roberts issued what is still a rare statement condemning Trump’s calls for U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg to be impeached after he blocked the president’s attempt to use an 18th-century wartime law to quickly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts wrote. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts also spoke out against Trump in 2018 after the president suggested a ruling against the administration was made by “an Obama judge.”
Elsewhere at the judicial conference, Dow suggested that judges may need to take a more active role in addressing rising threats and intimidation at all levels.
“This may be a wake-up call for all of us to rededicate ourselves to get out there in the world and not be isolated judges, and make sure that people understand what we do, why it’s important, and the value over the long term for our country that we continue to have a strong, robust, independent judiciary that’s free from violence and intimidation and whose rulings are respected,” Dow said.
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