Roberts Leaves His Comfort Zone to Rebuke Trump Impeachment Call

Chief Justice John Roberts’s rare rebuke of President Donald Trump was a message on the importance of judicial independence as well as a show of support to fellow judges.

Calls to impeach judges have increased in recent weeks, as courts rule against the administration in the flood of challenges to executive actions. Roberts remained silent until Trump’s social media post on Tuesday calling for the impeachment of the Chief US District Judge Jeb Boasberg in Washington.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in his statement released by the Supreme Court’s public information office a few hours after Trump’s post. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

The message from Roberts was twofold, said former Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.

“It’s a shot across Trump’s bow, but it’s also a message to the judiciary that the Chief Justice has got your back,” Moukawsher said.

Nip in Bud

Roberts, 70, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, has only spoken out publicly a handful of times in response to criticism of the judiciary, preferring instead to speak through his judicial opinions.

When he does speak publicly, he usually does so before audiences of judges and lawyers and seems to purposefully steer clear of controversial topics and refuses to address criticism head on. His preference for staying out of the limelight contrasts with colleagues such as Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor, all of whom have done televised interviews while publicizing books.

A former Roberts clerk, who spoke with Bloomberg Law prior to Roberts’ statement and requested anonymity to speak about him, said the bully pulpit isn’t a natural fit for Roberts.

Roberts believes “the American people gain confidence in the court when it does its job well,” the former clerk said. He’d prefer to “speak” though the court’s work.

Roberts has rebuked Trump once before, doing so during the first Trump administration after the president criticized an “Obama judge” who’d ruled against the president’s immigration policy.

“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them,” Roberts said in 2018.

Roberts annual report on the judiciary in December, prior to Trump taking office again, foreshadowed current criticisms from public officials.

“Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others,” Roberts wrote.

But Roberts didn’t name names and it doesn’t appear Trump took it as a stern or hostile message. The two were friendly during encounter at Trump’s presidential address to Congress on March 4. Upon leaving the chamber, Trump shook Roberts’ hand and said “Thank you again, thank you again. Won’t forget it.”

Roberts’ current rebuke of the president suggests he sees calls for impeachment as a real threat to judicial independence.

In addition tying impeachment to a particular ruling, Moukawsher noted that Trump’s social media post related to a case in which the Justice Department has been accused of failing to follow a federal court order. There’s “an atmosphere of lawlessness” that may have increased the need for Roberts to speak, Moukawsher said.

Thomas Berry, the director of the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies, agreed. Roberts only speaks out publicly when he considers it “vital to defend the prerogatives of the judicial branch,” Berry said.

“I think Roberts viewed it as vital to nip this idea in the bud.”

Roberts faced immediate pushback from Trump allies for his statement.

“Impeachment is a non-justiciable political question assigned by the Constitution to Congress—one of the two political branches of the U.S. government—and not to the courts,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a social media post. “Frankly, I’m surprised that Chief Justice Roberts is publicly opining on such matters.”