John G. Roberts Jr.
Chief Justice of the United States since 2005. Before joining the Court he served on the D.C. Circuit, was Principal Deputy Solicitor General, and argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court in private practice.
- Role
- Chief Justice of the United States
- Joined the Court
- 2005 (appointed by George W. Bush)
- Martin–Quinn score
- 0.33 (latest term)
- Decisions participated in
- 1,405 (Spaeth, 1946–2025 span)
- Prior roles
- Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Principal Deputy Solicitor General; Supreme Court advocate (39 arguments)
How their votes have evolved, issue by issue
- Criminal procedure: 119 votes, 36% on the liberal side.
- Free speech & press: 63 votes, 41% on the liberal side.
- Federalism: 59 votes, 64% on the liberal side.
- Immigration: 55 votes, 38% on the liberal side.
- Voting & elections: 43 votes, 35% on the liberal side.
- Executive & agency power: 34 votes, 56% on the liberal side.
- Death penalty: 31 votes, 19% on the liberal side.
- Religion: 20 votes, 50% on the liberal side.
- Guns & the Second Amendment: 17 votes, 47% on the liberal side.
- Abortion & reproductive rights: 11 votes, 36% on the liberal side.
- Race & affirmative action: 11 votes, 9% on the liberal side.
- Sexual orientation & gender identity: 8 votes, 25% on the liberal side.
Before the Court
As a lower-court judge on the D.C. Circuit (2003–2005), Roberts wrote 60 opinions we could find on CourtListener: 53 for the court, 4 concurring and 3 dissenting. Most often on: Executive & agency power (30), Criminal procedure (6), Federalism (1), Free speech & press (1). Selected passages appear in the “In their own words” timelines on this page.
How they question at oral argument
Over OT2023–OT2025 (991 substantive questions and remarks), Roberts's questions most often probed consequences and hypotheticals (46%), precedent (15%), the facts and record (10%). Themes are assigned by a language model (75% agreement with independent reference labels). Compare all nine Justices.
Public statements, writings & appearances
A curated, sourced timeline of 23 speeches, articles, interviews, and public statements — each with a summary and a link to the original source. The interactive version with filters and full-text search loads above.
- — William Howard Taft (In Pursuit (America 250 essay series, Substack), essay written and read aloud by the Chief Justice)
Roberts writes that Taft's most consequential work came as Chief Justice rather than as President, crediting him with creating the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges in 1922, securing the Judiciary Act of 1925 that gave the Supreme Court control of its own docket, and winning funding for the Court's own building. He frames these administrative achievements as having set the Court on a new trajectory and as symbols of the judiciary's status as a co-equal branch.
Topics: judicial role, judicial independence, court legitimacy, founding history, separation of powers
- — Fireside chat with Chief Judge Michael Chagares, Third Circuit Judicial Conference (Third Circuit Judicial Conference, Hershey, PA)
A week after the Court's Voting Rights Act ruling, Roberts told the Third Circuit conference that the public wrongly views the justices as political actors making policy decisions, said the Court is 'simply not part of the political process,' and warned that personal attacks on lower-court judges 'can lead to very serious problems.'
People think we're making policy decisions
Topics: court legitimacy, judicial role, judicial independence
- — 2025 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
A history-steeped report invoking Thomas Paine's Common Sense, the Declaration of Independence, and Coolidge's sesquicentennial remarks to argue the constitutional framework remains 'firm and unshaken'; it defends life tenure and salary protection as enabling judges to act as a counter-majoritarian check, and notes a 9% rise in district-court filings.
True then; true now
Topics: judicial independence, court legitimacy, judicial role
- — Conversation with Chief Judge Albert Diaz, Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference (82nd Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit, Charlotte, NC)
In a 36-minute on-stage conversation, Roberts called an independent judiciary the Constitution's 'only novel contribution to political science,' condemned rising threats of violence against judges over their rulings, and stressed civic education about the judiciary's distinct role.
the only novel contribution of the constitution to political science
Topics: judicial independence, judicial role, civic education
- — Lecture to the Graduating Class of 2025 (fireside chat with Dean William Treanor) (Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.)
In a pre-commencement conversation with Dean Treanor, Roberts called the rule of law 'the basic proposition' of the American system, defended the Court's record on precedent (saying it has overturned less than under prior chief justices), and said criticism should target decisions rather than justices personally.
The notion that rule of law governs is the basic proposition
Topics: judicial role, court legitimacy, precedent
- — Remarks on judicial independence, 125th anniversary of the Western District of New York (U.S. District Court event, Buffalo, N.Y.)
Speaking in his hometown of Buffalo, Roberts said the judiciary's independence is essential to the Constitution's three-branch design, repeated that impeachment is not a way to register disagreement with decisions, and said the courts' job is to check the excesses of Congress and the executive.
Topics: judicial independence, separation of powers, impeachment
- — Public statement rejecting impeachment as a response to judicial rulings (Statement via Supreme Court Public Information Office)
After President Trump called for impeaching the district judge who ruled against his deportation flights, Roberts issued a statement that impeachment has never been an appropriate response to disagreement with a judicial decision, pointing to appellate review instead.
impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision
Topics: judicial independence, impeachment, executive branch relations
- — 2024 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Roberts identified violence, intimidation, disinformation, and threats by officials to defy court rulings as dangers to judicial independence, writing that within the past few years elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings.
Topics: judicial independence, court defiance, threats against judges
- — 2023 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Roberts surveyed artificial intelligence's arrival in the courts, predicting AI will expand access to justice for unrepresented litigants while warning of hallucinated citations and privacy risks, and concluding that human judges will not be rendered obsolete.
Topics: artificial intelligence, judicial role, access to justice
- — Letter declining Senate testimony, with Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices (Letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin)
Amid reporting on Justice Thomas's undisclosed travel, Roberts declined an invitation to testify about Supreme Court ethics, citing separation-of-powers concerns and the rarity of chief-justice testimony, and attached a statement of ethics principles subscribed to by all sitting justices.
Topics: judicial ethics, separation of powers, congressional oversight
- — 2021 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Responding to reports of judges hearing cases despite financial conflicts, Roberts acknowledged lapses in recusal and disclosure compliance and pledged more rigorous ethics training, while emphasizing that the judiciary should police itself through internal governance.
Topics: judicial ethics, financial disclosure, workplace conduct
- — 2019 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Roberts warned that civic education has fallen by the wayside and that in the internet age rumor and false information can spread instantly, urging judges to promote public understanding of an independent judiciary's role.
Topics: civic education, judicial independence, misinformation
- — Public statement responding to President Trump's 'Obama judge' remark (Statement issued via the Associated Press)
In a rare public rebuke of a sitting president, Roberts responded to Trump's criticism of an 'Obama judge' by stating that federal judges are not partisan actors and that an independent judiciary deserves gratitude.
We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.
Topics: judicial independence, court legitimacy, executive branch relations
- — Commencement Address, Cardigan Mountain School ('I wish you bad luck') (Cardigan Mountain School, Canaan, N.H.)
At his son's ninth-grade graduation, Roberts told students he hoped they would experience unfairness, betrayal, and bad luck so they would learn the value of justice, loyalty, and the role of chance in success.
I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.
Topics: justice, humility, judicial persona
- — Conversation at New England Law | Boston (Law Day banquet) (New England Law | Boston)
Days before Justice Scalia's death, Roberts discussed the process for selecting justices and the Court's inner workings in an on-stage conversation, offering advocacy advice while steering clear of contested legal issues.
Topics: confirmation process, court legitimacy, appellate advocacy
- — 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Amid recusal controversies before the health-care litigation, Roberts explained that the Code of Conduct for lower-court judges does not formally bind the justices, said the justices nonetheless consult it, and defended each justice deciding recusal individually without appellate review.
Topics: judicial ethics, recusal, separation of powers
- — 2007 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States)
Roberts devoted the report to stagnant federal judicial salaries, arguing that eroding pay drives experienced lawyers from the bench and threatens the character and independence of the judiciary.
Topics: judicial compensation, judicial independence
- — Commencement Address, Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown University Law Center)
In his first commencement address as Chief Justice, Roberts argued the Court should favor narrow rulings and seek broader agreement among the justices, saying the rule of law benefits when decisions rest on the narrowest possible grounds.
If it is not necessary to decide more, it is necessary not to decide more.
Topics: judicial minimalism, unanimity, court legitimacy
- — Confirmation testimony on stare decisis and Roe/Casey (Senate Judiciary Committee)
Under questioning by Senator Specter, Roberts described stare decisis as a cornerstone of legal stability and said Roe, as reaffirmed in Casey, was entitled to respect as settled precedent, while declining to commit to outcomes in future cases.
Topics: stare decisis, precedent, abortion
- — Opening Statement, Confirmation Hearing for Chief Justice (the 'umpire' statement) (Senate Judiciary Committee)
In his opening statement, Roberts compared judges to baseball umpires who apply rules rather than make them, and pledged to decide cases with humility and without an agenda.
Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them.
Topics: judicial role, judicial restraint, confirmation process
- — Confirmation testimony on the Commerce Clause and federalism (Senate Judiciary Committee (S. Hrg. 109-158))
Roberts testified that Lopez and Morrison marked real but limited boundaries on Congress's commerce power, treated Wickard v. Filburn as governing law, and declined to endorse broad theories cutting back on federal regulatory authority.
Topics: commerce clause, federalism, congressional power
- — Confirmation Hearing on Federal Appointments (D.C. Circuit nomination) (Senate Judiciary Committee (S. Hrg. 108-135))
At his hearing for the D.C. Circuit seat, Roberts testified that a court of appeals judge is bound to apply Supreme Court precedent faithfully and resisted efforts to extract an ideological judicial philosophy from his advocacy record.
Topics: judicial role, precedent, confirmation process
- — Article III Limits on Statutory Standing (Duke Law Journal (42 Duke L.J. 1219))
Writing as a private practitioner and former Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts defended Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, arguing that Article III's injury-in-fact requirement is a constitutional floor that Congress cannot waive by statute.
Topics: standing, separation of powers, article iii