Chief Justice John Roberts stresses judicial independence amid tensions with Trump
By John Fritze, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 8:42 PM EDT, Wed May 7, 2025
CNN —
Chief Justice John Roberts stressed the importance of judicial independence during public remarks Wednesday, noting that the judiciary’s role as a co-equal branch of government is central to the nation’s political system.
“The judiciary is a coequal 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,” Roberts said at an event in his native Buffalo, New York.
The judiciary’s role, Roberts added, is to “decide cases but, in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive.”
That work, Roberts said, “does require a degree of independence.”
Roberts’ remarks on the judiciary drew an extended round of applause from the judges and lawyers who gathered in Western New York to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the federal court there. The chief justice was born in Buffalo but moved to Indiana when he was 10 years old.
Roberts, who in September will mark his 20th year as chief, did not mention President Donald Trump by name, nor did he directly discuss the tension between the executive and judicial branches that has surfaced since the president took office in January. Asked about calls by Trump and some of his allies to impeach judges who rule against his administration, Roberts noted that he had issued a statement on that issue earlier this year.
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https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/07/politics/john-roberts-event-judicial-independence
