Chief Justice John Roberts praised the independence of the federal judiciary as a vital “counter-majoritarian check” and encouraged Americans unsettled by partisan conflict to place their trust in the Constitution, in an annual report released Wednesday that avoided direct engagement with today’s political flashpoints.
Marking the approach of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Roberts centered his remarks on the Declaration of Independence, noting that the founders bristled at the British crown’s control over colonial courts and deliberately “corrected this flaw” by creating a judiciary insulated from interference by the political branches.
“This arrangement, now in place for 236 years, has served the country well,” Roberts wrote in the report, which the Supreme Court released just hours before the new year.
The chief justice’s historically focused message did not reference President Donald Trump or the growing friction between federal courts and the White House since Trump’s second inauguration nearly a year ago. During that period, Trump has openly questioned the legitimacy of judges who blocked his policies and has called for their impeachment.
Many disputes between the administration and the courts have landed on the Supreme Court’s emergency, or “shadow,” docket. There, the president has frequently found a more receptive audience among the court’s six-justice conservative majority. Several of those rulings have overturned lower-court decisions with little explanation, drawing pointed criticism from some judges and fueling debate among the justices themselves.
In recent months, the court has permitted the Trump administration to cancel foreign aid and public health funding, temporarily remove leaders of independent agencies, stop and question individuals about their immigration status based on factors such as ethnicity or language, and require U.S. passports to list sex based on biological classification. Last week, however, the court blocked Trump from deploying the National Guard in Chicago.
Overall, the Supreme Court has sided with the administration in more than 80% of the Justice Department’s emergency appeals this year. On its regular docket, the court also delivered a significant victory to the president in June by curbing the authority of federal courts to temporarily halt executive policies.
Looking ahead to 2026, the justices are expected to consider whether Trump can end birthright citizenship through executive action, impose sweeping global tariffs on his own authority, and remove a Federal Reserve governor over disputed claims of mortgage fraud.
On the impeachment of judges
Roberts has traditionally steered clear of sensitive or controversial topics in his annual reports. Even so, this year’s edition was notably restrained. While he made no reference to past ethics controversies surrounding the court, Roberts did reflect on a foundational moment for judicial independence: the 1804 impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, the only justice ever to face such proceedings.
Though Roberts described Chase as “controversial and irascible,” he emphasized that the impeachment effort was driven largely by partisan aims. President Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans sought to weaken the Federalist hold on the judiciary. Chase was ultimately acquitted, Roberts wrote, despite the opposing party’s supermajority in the Senate, because lawmakers concluded that disagreement with a judge’s rulings was not a valid reason for removal.
Citing a book by former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Roberts noted that Chase’s acquittal “assured the independence of federal judges from congressional oversight of the decisions they made in the cases that came before them.”
Roberts himself underscored that principle earlier this year, issuing a rare public statement amid escalating calls to impeach judges. “Impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” he said at the time.
In closing his report, Roberts turned to the words of President Calvin Coolidge, spoken during the nation’s 150th anniversary a century ago. Even amid a “clash of conflicting interests” and a “welter of partisan politics,” Coolidge observed, Americans could take comfort in the enduring promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
“True then,” Roberts concluded. “True now.”
