John Roberts

John Roberts
Official portrait of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States
Official portrait, 2005
17th Chief Justice of the United States
Assumed office
September 29, 2005
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byWilliam Rehnquist
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office
June 2, 2003 – September 29, 2005
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byJames L. Buckley
Succeeded byPatricia Millett
Principal Deputy Solicitor General
of the United States
In office
October 24, 1989 – January 1993
PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byDonald B. Ayer
Succeeded byPaul Bender
Associate Counsel to the President
In office
November 28, 1982 – April 11, 1986
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byJ. Michael Luttig[1]
Succeeded byRobert M. Kruger[2]
Personal details
Born
John Glover Roberts Jr.

(1955-01-27) January 27, 1955 (age 69)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Spouse
Jane Sullivan
(m. 1996)
Children2
EducationHarvard University (BA, JD)
SignatureCursive signature in ink

John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005.[3] He has been described as having a moderate conservative judicial philosophy, though he is primarily an institutionalist.[4][5] For his willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, Roberts has been regarded as a swing vote on the U.S. Supreme Court.[6][7]

Roberts grew up in Northwest Indiana and was educated in a series of Catholic schools. He studied at Harvard University with the initial intent to become a historian, graduating in three years with highest distinction. He attended Harvard Law School afterwards, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly and Justice William Rehnquist before taking a position in the Reagan administration. He also served under the senior Bush administration in the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel, during which time he was nominated by George H. W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but no vote on his nomination was held.[8] For 14 years, Roberts was in private practice and argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court.[9] Notably, he represented 19 states in United States v. Microsoft Corp.[10]

President George W. Bush appointed Roberts as an appellate judge of the D.C. Circuit in 2003. During his two-year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions, eliciting two dissents from other judges, and authoring three dissents of his own.[11] In 2005, Bush nominated Roberts to the Supreme Court, initially to be an associate justice to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Chief Justice William Rehnquist died shortly afterward, however, before Roberts's Senate confirmation hearings had begun. Bush then withdrew Roberts's nomination and instead nominated him to become Chief Justice, choosing Samuel Alito to replace O'Connor.

Roberts has authored majority opinions in many important cases, including decisions relating to elections, federal agencies, presidential power, the Affordable Care Act, and race-based college admissions.

  1. ^ "Preliminary Inventory" (PDF). Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. February 12, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  2. ^ "Appointment of Robert M. Kruger as Associate Counsel to the President | The American Presidency Project". presidency.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  3. ^ "Current Members". www.supremecourt.gov. Supreme Court of the United States. October 9, 2022. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  4. ^ Bassetti, Victoria (July 1, 2020). "John Roberts is an institutionalist, not a liberal". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  5. ^ Rosen, Jeffrey (July 13, 2020). "John Roberts Is Just Who the Supreme Court Needed". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "Chief Justice Roberts leans to the left". The Economist. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  7. ^ Barnes, Robert (June 28, 2018). "'If it wasn't the Roberts court already, it is the Roberts court now'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "Judicial Nominations – Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Archived from the original on January 14, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  9. ^ "Biographies of Current Justices of the Supreme Court". supremecourt.gov. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
  10. ^ Kathy Gill. "John G. Roberts, Jr – Supreme Court Chief Justice – Biography". About.com News & Issues. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  11. ^ "John G. Roberts, Jr". oyez.org. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2016.