Was I the only one laughing out loud after reading the tone deaf comments Chief Justice Roberts’ presented in his annual report on the state of the federal judiciary? An insulting start to 2023, indeed. Roberts’ main and only concern in the report seemed to be about the physical safety of his justices amid the political turmoil exacerbated by the court’s recent controversial rulings. Nothing about those rulings is mentioned, nor is there acknowledgement of the draft opinion leak currently under investigation. Also ignored was the issue of public demand for revisions to the Supreme Court’s judicial ethics, in particular regarding the insurrection scandal involving Ginni Thomas, Justice Thomas’ wife. Instead of addressing the issues foremost in the minds of Americans, Roberts’ focus fell solely on the issue of the judiciary needing protection from physical threat.
“In Year-End Report, Chief Justice Roberts Addresses Threats to Judges’ Safety” New York Times
Roberts said this in the report: “We must support judges by ensuring their safety,” and “A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear.” Few would disagree on this, but it did strike many as incredibly hypocritical for Roberts to demand heightened security for Supreme Court justices when so recently these same justices struck down a basic and publicly supported gun control law in New York state. On June 23, the Supreme Court, in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, overturned a New York gun safety law that required a license in order to conceal carry weapons in public places. Roberts’ court ruled this law to be unconstitutional, thereby threatening similar laws in seven other states. The effect: a quarter of the U.S. population now faces much reduced protection from gun violence. In essence, Roberts and his court have opened up gun sales to just about anyone and at a time with historically unprecedented gun violence and domestic terrorism.
Roberts’ New Year’s Day comments beg the question: “What about the rest of us?” Shouldn’t U.S. citizens also be ensured safety and freedom from living in fear? Obviously and decidedly, yes. However, thanks to the Roberts’ Supreme Court that will be nearly impossible. Chief Justice Roberts and his court have made it clear they only care about gun violence when it pertains to themselves.
It would seem that the chief justice may have personally experienced threats of physical harm. Well, guess what? So have the rest of us, though our threats are much harder to anticipate and avert. Threats to the general public come out of nowhere… at our children’s schools, at the grocery store, in church, at holiday parades, at family gatherings and at country music concerts. Gun violence is coming at the general public from every direction and unlike the Supreme Court justices, none of us have the benefit of the FBI and top-notch security detail. This is something the Supreme Court might have considered when making rulings that so broadly effect the tranquility and welfare of our country.
I would say this to you directly, your honor: there is one thing We the People have in common with You the Supreme Court…
The Supreme Court’s threats of physical harm are coming from the same group of unhinged folks with unlimited access to guns as those threatening the general public.
And you, Chief Justice Roberts, get to take full credit for putting all of us in this predicament. The court’s rulings on gun rights, all of which you have supported, have made our country unsafe both for yourself, your colleagues and for those whom you’ve taken an oath to serve.
On New Year’s Day, another headline popped up just five minutes prior to Chief Justice Roberts’ proclamation:
“People Can Now Carry Guns Without A License In Half Of America's States.” HuffPost.com
And why specifically, one may ask, is it now so easy to obtain a gun without procuring a license? It is precisely because of the Supreme Court’s rulings. Don’t imagine for even one second that this most recent ruling in June did not have an immediate and irreversible effect on gun violence and domestic terrorism in the U.S. Nothing could be more obvious.
More important reading on this subject:
“Court Rulings Wipe Out Gun Laws In Wake Of Supreme Court Decision” RollCall.com
“Fact Sheet: Weak Gun Laws Are Driving Increases in Violent Crime” AmericanProgress.org
And here’s a current graphic from the CDC showing regions with the most gun violence.
Source: CDC
Notice this: there is significantly higher gun violence occurring in GOP dominated states, i.e. those with fewer gun restrictions.
The League of Women Voters had the best summation on the effects of this recent Supreme Court ruling:
"Understanding the Supreme Court’s Gun Control Decision in NYSRPA vs. Bruen.” LWV.org
Yes, we’re calling you out, Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr. You are a hypocrite of the worst kind: one who wields immense power.
I, for one, am glad you are shaking in your boots and worried for your own safety. May you, and your colleagues, reap what you have sown: fear. May you enjoy a taste of what everyone else in this country has been served up by your court… the threat of gun violence everywhere. And many thanks to you, Chief Justice Roberts, and your colleagues for refusing to back even the most basic and common sense gun laws, in essence allowing anyone and everyone the right to possess guns, regardless of maturity, mental illness, criminal past and with no regard for the purchaser’s intentions. We certainly wouldn’t want to tread on anyone’s constitutional rights per your court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment.
Many have wondered why the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble was never part of your discussion on gun control:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
We the People are just trying to understand why the court should have the benefit of constant security detail while we are under the threat of random gun violence every day and as we go about normal everyday tasks. This is absolutely NOT FAIR. Period. You the Supreme Court are not more important than We the People. You’re just not.
And in case anyone is curious, these are the justices who voted to blow open the issue of gun control on June 23, 2022: Thomas, Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett, as stated in the published Supreme Court ruling.
Finally, I’d like to share one heartbreaking statistic to give some perspective on the issue of gun control:
“Over 6000 children were killed or injured by gun violence in the U.S. in 2022” The Hill
Let that statistic of six thousand children sink in before you get on your knees to offer up prayers for the safety and well-being of our nine revered Supreme Court justices. Perhaps save your prayers for the real victims: all of those children.
As for you, Chief Justice Roberts: time to man up, reign in your fellow justices and bring the Second Amendment into the 21st century. Folks are no longer using smoothbore flintlock muskets. Perhaps you hadn’t heard. And there is no way you could have missed the abundance of concrete and certifiable statistical evidence demonstrating that the regulation of guns dramatically reduces gun violence. Yet knowing this, you and your court went full speed ahead, blowing open gun access at absolutely the worst time in our nation’s history. You are complicit in causing the deaths of thousands of Americans every year.
And that is as black and white as your courtroom attire, sir.