Chief Justice John Roberts has defended the independence of the judiciary, saying it is under threat for several reasons

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday defended the independence of the judiciary, which he said is under threat from intimidation, misinformation and the prospect of public officials ignoring court orders.

Roberts outlined his concerns in his annual report on the federal judiciary. It was released a year after the nation’s judiciary was extremely embroiled in a bitter presidential race against then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. violation of the integrity of judges which ruled against him as he faced criminal charges in which he denied wrongdoing.

Trump won the race after a landmark Supreme Court hearing decision on immunity Roberts, which, along with another high court ruling to end efforts to disqualify him from the ballot, removed the obstacles to his election.

The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats such as President Joe Biden, who later called for term limits and a mandatory ethics code after criticism of undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some judges.

Roberts, for his part, prefaced his letter by telling the story of how King George III stripped colonial judges of their life appointments, an order that “was not well received.”

Trump is now preparing for a second term with an ambitious conservative agenda, elements of which are likely to be legally challenged and end up in court, whose conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.

Roberts and Trump faced in 2018 when the chief justice reprimanded the president for what he called an “Obama judge” who overturned his immigration policy.

In 2020, Roberts criticized Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s comments when the Supreme Court considered high-profile abortion case.

In this year’s annual report, Roberts did not mention Trump, Biden or any other specific leader. Instead, he wrote broadly that even if court rulings are unpopular or represent a defeat for a presidential administration, the other branches of government must be willing to enforce them to ensure the rule of law.

He pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which in 1954 struck down school segregation as requiring federal enforcement over opposition from southern governors.

“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy,” he wrote.

The chief justice also condemned elected officials across the political spectrum who “raised the specter of flagrant disregard for federal court rulings.”

“Attempts to intimidate judges for their decisions in cases are inappropriate and should be strongly opposed,” he wrote.

While public officials and others have the right to criticize decisions, they must also be aware that their statements may “produce dangerous reactions from others.”

Threats against federal judges have more than tripled in the past decade, according to statistics from the US Marshals Service. State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were murdered in their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote.

“Violence, intimidation and insubordination directed against judges because of their work undermines our Republic and is completely unacceptable,” he wrote.

Roberts also pointed to misinformation about court decisions as a threat to judicial independence, saying social media could increase distortions and even be used by “hostile foreign state actors” to exacerbate disagreements.

Against the background of these intensified disagreements, the confidence of Americans in the judicial system and the courts of the country fell to a record low level of 35%, and Gallup poll found