John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks during lecture to the Georgetown Law School graduating class of 2025, in Washington, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says “we’re developing a situation” in the United States where individuals are growing up “having no real sense” of what the government does or how the legal system works, calling it “really too bad” during an appearance at Georgetown Law on Monday.
Without mentioning anyone by name, the 70-year-old George W. Bush appointee urged “young people” and the public to avoid “trashing the justices” in wake of recent rebukes and impeachment callouts by President Donald Trump and others in recent months.
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“It’s a good thing, and I’m sincere. It is a good thing,” Roberts said, when asked how he handles public criticism. “I mean, the court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history and those should be criticized,” he replied. “So long as it is in terms of the decision, really, and not ad hominem against the justices.”
On Monday, Roberts said that when it comes to strengthening the rule of law, “one area where it’s most endangered” is with the younger generation. He noted how there is less emphasis on civics classes in schools these days and said it’s alarming “how many people have really no understanding of what the role of courts are, what the different branches have to do, really even the notion of what law is and what a constitution is.”
One suggestion Roberts had was educating people at a young age.
“You have to start as early as you possibly can, because otherwise it doesn’t become part of their understanding of government,” Roberts said. “We’re developing a situation where a whole group of young people is growing up having no real sense about how our system of justice works.”
Asked how he is able to maintain a collegial work environment with the other justices and make rulings on critical issues pertaining to the president and government, Roberts told the Georgetown crowd: “We have to work together on these things that are difficult. You find a way to get along … If you’re sort of really at each other’s throats with bad feelings and stuff like that, it just — it’s not a good way to function.”
In March, Roberts issued a rare public statement condemning those publicly calling for judges to be impeached over disagreements with their rulings.
The ranking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court put out the statement just hours after Trump posted a diatribe on social media calling for the impeachment of a judge who had issued an order stopping his administration from conducting deportations under an obscure 18th century wartime authority that does not require due process.
“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 a statement issued by the Supreme Court’s public information office. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
