Chief Justice John Roberts stressed the importance of an independent judiciary Wednesday in remarks delivered at a time when Trump administration officials are frequently criticizing courts that have blocked their policies.
Roberts, speaking at a public event in Buffalo, New York, said an independent judiciary is a key feature of the U.S. constitutional system that had not existed in other countries when it was founded.
"In our Constitution ... the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president," he said.
"And that innovation doesn't work if ... the judiciary is not independent," he added. "Its job is to, obviously, decide cases but, in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence."
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Roberts, responding to a question from Buffalo-based U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo, was not addressing President Donald Trump specifically, and his comments were mild compared with forceful remarks liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made last week.
Vilardo also asked Roberts about calls from Trump and his allies to impeach judges who have ruled against the administration.
Roberts pointed to a statement he had issued on the subject and did not elaborate further.
"Well, I've already spoken to that. You know, impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions," Roberts said.
Referring to the Supreme Court's taking up cases on appeal, Vilardo said, "That's what you're for, right?"
"That's what we're there for," Roberts replied.
Last year, Roberts authored the majority opinion when the court ruled that Trump had some immunity from criminal prosecution for acts taken during his first term in a decision that boosted Trump's re-election bid.
The court hears oral arguments next week on Trump's effort to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship for anyone born in the United States.
Roberts, a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, was in Buffalo to mark the 125th anniversary of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
He spent his early years in Buffalo, he noted, but after he moved to Indiana he changed his allegiances from the Buffalo Bills to the Chicago Bears. That admission led to some boos from the audience Wednesday.
