Supreme court Chief Justice John Roberts said the nation’s federal courts were policing themselves better, which they said was essential to the judicial branch’s ability to maintain its independence.
His annual New Year’s Eve report on the federal judiciary came at the end of a year that brought repeated calls for change In Supreme Court. A commission appointed by President Joe Biden explored adding more justice Or limited the length of their terms, as the court became the most conservative in nearly a century.
The latest Gallup poll showed only 40 percent approval of the court’s performance, 20 points down from two decades ago and a new low for that poll.
The current court term is filled with highly charged cases, in which a . also includes Direct Attack on Roe vs. Wade and challenge the Biden administration’s efforts to impose Vaccine or mask wear and test requirements To control the spread of covid for large employers and health care workers. The court will hear cases related to the pandemic in a special session on January 7.
Roberts did not mention any of these factors. But he said the judiciary’s power to manage its internal affairs “protects courts from undue political influence and is vital to maintaining public confidence in their work as a separate and co-equal branch of government.” “
The chief justice said federal courts need to do a better job of detecting potential conflicts, requiring judges to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they or their family members hold stock. He said recently Wall Street Journal Analysis It was found that 131 judges participated in 685 such cases between 2010 and 2018.
“The judiciary needs to take this matter seriously,” he said, though he said the cases cited by the Journal accounted for less than 0.03 percent of the total federal civil caseload. He said many were likely the result of unintentional failures in the investigation of financial conflicts.
Still, he said, “our ethical training programs need to be made more rigorous.”
Roberts commended the efforts of federal courts to recognize and combat unfair practices in federal courts. “The new protections can help ensure that every employee of the court enjoys a workplace free of rudeness and disrespect,” he said.
Roberts praised one of his predecessors, William Howard Taft, who became chief justice eight years before he completed a term as US president a century ago. “He understood that criticism of the courts was inevitable, and he went through an era when federal courts faced strong calls for reform, some warranted and some not,” he said.