John Roberts Is Imagining Things

“Few countries and territories have seen larger percentage-point drops in confidence in the judiciary (over a similar four-year span) than the U.S.,” the report said. “These include Myanmar (from 2018 to 2022) overlapping the return to military rule in 2021, Venezuela (2012-2016) amid deep economic and political turmoil, and Syria (2009-2013) in the runup to and early years of civil war, and others that have experienced their own kinds of disorder in the past two decades.”

Roberts is correct about some of the threats he identified in the report, such as violence toward judges or efforts to defy court rulings. But his discussion of other threats is troubling. At times, Roberts appears overly concerned with conflating criticism of the court with intimidation, mistaking persuasion and pressure for thuggery.

“Unfortunately, not all actors engage in ‘informed criticism’ or anything remotely resembling it,” Roberts wrote. “I feel compelled to address four areas of illegitimate activity that, in my view, do threaten the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends: (1) violence, (2) intimidation, (3) disinformation, and (4) threats to defy lawfully entered judgments.”