Roberts defends 'legitimacy' of Supreme Court, says oral arguments will again be open to public

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. is defended the "legitimacy" of the Supreme Court, while acknowledging the last year has been "difficult in many respects" for the high court and its nine justices.

Robert made the comments Friday evening in an interview at a legal conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado – his first since the end of the high court's tumultuous term, which ended this summer. 

"The court has always decided controversial cases and decisions always have been subject to intense criticism and that is entirely appropriate," Roberts said.

However, he suggested that such controversy and disagreement has wrongly veered into challenging the legitimacy of the high court.

"You don’t want the political branches telling you what the law is," Robert said. "And you don’t want public opinion to be the guide of what the appropriate decision is.

"All of our opinions are open to criticism. In fact, our members do a great job of criticizing some opinions from time to time. But simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for criticizing the legitimacy of the court.”

The court’s approval rating has in public opinion polls dropped to one of its lowest levels. The drop has been led by unhappy Democrats, according to The Washington Post. 

Without speaking directly about the court in June striking down Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of precedent on the constitutional right to abortion, Roberts acknowledged the difficulty of the past year.

"It was gut-wrenching every morning to drive into a Supreme Court with barricades around it," he said about the protests around the decision.

He also said having to hold oral arguments by teleconference or before a small number of court personnel and reporters, in large part the result of the pandemic, as been "unnatural."

“When we take the bench the first Monday in October at 10 a.m., the public will be there to watch us,” Roberts said. “I think just moving forward from things that were unfortunate is the best way to respond to it.”