Chief Justice Roberts Defends Supreme Court Against Partisan Rulings

Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday lamented what he framed as a widespread misunderstanding of the Supreme Court’s work, pushing back on criticism that many of the court’s highest-profile cases wind up with conservative outcomes. “People think we’re making policy decisions,” Roberts told a conference of attorneys and judges in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when asked what he felt Americans most misunderstood about the institution he has led for more than two decades. “I think they view us as truly political actors,” he said, “which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.” Roberts’ remarks came just days after the court handed down a blockbuster decision gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act — a ruling that lawmakers in several southern states have used to justify a chaotic push to redraw their congressional boundaries to help Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. That decision, handed down with the six-justice conservative wing aligned against the three-justice liberal bloc, has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups, some of