Chief Justice John Roberts defended the independence of the federal judiciary in the wake of a tense confirmation battle for Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Roberts was at the University of Minnesota Tuesday as part of a lecture series with the law school, an appearance scheduled long before the hearings.
Senators confirmed the new justice narrowly this month after Christine Blasey Ford testified that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school, which Kavanaugh denied.
Roberts did not discuss details of the confirmation hearings, and he declined to criticize lawmakers or President Trump. But ahead of an interview with University of Minnesota law professor Robert Stein, the chief justice addressed what he called “the contentious events in Washington of recent weeks.”
He said the Supreme Court’s role is clear — to be an independent arbiter of the U.S. Constitution.
“Without independence, there is no Brown v. Board of Education. Without independence there is no West Virginia v. Barnette, where the court held that the government could not compel school children to salute the flag,” Roberts said.
The chief justice said some of the court’s most grievous errors came when his predecessors caved to political pressure. He cited the 1944 Korematsu decision upholding the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent.
Now part of a conservative majority, Roberts also emphasized the collegiality of the high…
