Roberts’s Bio
John Roberts is a jurist and the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, mostly an institutionalist and is well-known for his moderately conservative judicial ideology. Roberts wrote important opinions, spearheaded a change in the high court’s jurisprudence toward conservatism, and is occasionally seen as a swing vote.
How old is Roberts?
The American Juris is 70 years old as of 27 January 2025. He was born on 27 January 1955 in Buffalo, New York, United States.
What is Roberts’ Ethnicity?
His mother was descended from Slovak immigrants from Szepes, Hungary, and his father was of Irish and Welsh descent.
Roberts’s Parents and Siblings
Rosemary (née Podrasky) and John Glover “Jack” Roberts Sr., both devoted Catholics, welcomed Roberts into the world on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York. His mother was descended from Slovak immigrants from Szepes, Hungary, and his father was of Irish and Welsh descent. His older sister, Kathy, passed away in 2021, and he has two younger sisters, Margaret and Barbara. Roberts was born and raised in Hamburg, New York, where his father was employed as an electrical engineer at the Lackawanna mill of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Ten-year-old Roberts and his family relocated to Long Beach, Indiana, in 1965 after his father was promoted to manager of a new steel facility in Burns Harbor, which is close by.
What Religion is Roberts?
Roberts practices Catholicism. He grew up in Northwest Indiana in a Catholic home and went to Catholic schools.
Who is Roberts married to?
On July 27, 1996, Roberts and Jane Sullivan tied the knot in the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. At their wedding, J. Michael Luttig served as a groomsman. Roberts met Sullivan, a lawyer, in New York. She earned a master’s degree in mathematics from Brown University and a juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center after graduating from the College of the Holy Cross. She rose to prominence as a legal recruiter at Mlegal and Major, Lindsey & Africa. Sullivan has been on the board of trustees for Holy Cross, just like Clarence Thomas. Chevy Chase, Maryland, is home to John and Jane Roberts. Two of their children were adopted.
Roberts’ Education
At the academically demanding Catholic boarding school in La Porte, Indiana, known as the parochial La Lumiere School, he played in track and field, captained the football team, and won a wrestling title at the regional level. In addition, he co-edited the school newspaper and took part in play and singing. He was the first La Lumiere School alumnus to enroll at Harvard University, graduating as class valedictorian in 1973. Roberts majored in history and devoted his time to it at Harvard College. Based on his high school grades, he had been admitted to Harvard as a sophomore with second-year standing.
As an undergraduate, Roberts focused on contemporary European politics and history and excelled academically. He planned to get a Ph.D. in history to become a professor after winning the Edwards Whitaker Scholarship in his first year. “Marxism and Bolshevism: Theory and Practice,” his debut paper, was awarded the William Scott Ferguson Prize at Harvard. Roberts studied Daniel Webster, a well-known Supreme Court advocate, because he was interested in oral advocacy. “The Utopian Conservative: A Study of Continuity and Change in the Thought of Daniel Webster,” his senior year paper, was awarded a Bowdoin Prize.
Roberts joined Phi Beta Kappa after earning his Bachelor of Arts in history in 1976. He continued to pursue his initial objective of becoming a professor while attending Harvard Law School in search of better professional opportunities. He earned membership in the Harvard Law Review and was ranked among the top 15 students in his first year of law school. Despite his weariness, he received a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 1979.
Why was Roberts chosen as chief justice?
After Justice Rehnquist passed away in 2004, top Bush administration advisers started evaluating possible successors.Roberts’ background as a Supreme Court counsel made him stand out and attracted the admiration of both liberals and conservatives.The first Supreme Court nominee since Stephen Breyer’s in 1994 came in 2005 when President Bush nominated Roberts.
On September 29, 2005, Roberts took the judicial oath required by the Judiciary Act of 1789 at the US Supreme Court building and the constitutional oath of office administered by Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House.Roberts has been described by analysts like Jeffrey Toobin as a steadfast supporter of conservative ideas, while Garrett Epps has described his writing as “crystalline, vivid, and often humorous.”
Judge Diane Sykes of the Seventh Circuit came to the conclusion that Roberts’s reasoning is deeply anchored in the discipline of classical legal technique, demonstrating a commitment to text, structure, history, and the hierarchy of the constitution. He demonstrates restraint, which results from applying established decisional principles carefully and using case law to inform his reasoning. According to Roberts, “[if it is not necessary to decide more to a case, then in my view it is necessary not to decide more to a case.” He bases his rulings on a judicial minimalism approach. His leadership and decision-making appear to reflect a desire to uphold judicial independence while preserving the Court’s authority and legitimacy.
Roberts was contacted by the Associated Press in November 2018 after President Donald Trump referred to a judge who had decided against his asylum policy as a “Obama judge.” “We don’t have judges who are Obama, Trump, Bush, or Clinton,” Roberts retorted.
We have a remarkable team of committed judges who are doing everything in their power to ensure that everyone who appears before them is treated equally.Roberts is viewed as having a more moderate stance than his predecessor, William Rehnquist, despite the fact that his judicial ideology is conservative. His voting style has been similar to that of Brett Kavanaugh, who is often seen as being significantly more moderate than Alito.
Many pundits claimed that Roberts was no longer the main justice when Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed because the five other conservative justices could outvote him, thereby enabling him to steer the court in a moderately conservative direction while adhering to tradition.
What is Roberts Suffering from? Illness
Roberts stayed overnight at a hospital in Rockport, Maine, after experiencing a seizure at his vacation home in St. George, Maine, in 2007. The doctors were unable to determine the reason of the seizure. According to a Supreme Court statement, Roberts had experienced a similar seizure in 1993, but a neurological test “revealed no cause for concern.” The statute does not require federal judges to disclose their health information.
After falling at a country club in Maryland on June 21, 2020, Roberts needed sutures for his forehead and spent the night in the hospital for observation. After ruling out a seizure, the doctors concluded that Roberts’ lightheadedness was caused by dehydration.
Roberts’ Political Party
Since the 1970s, Roberts has served as a justice on the Supreme Court. He authored the 2007 ruling in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., which declared the political advertising provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 to be unlawful. Roberts joined the Court’s Citizens United v. FEC judgment in 2010, which overturned rules preventing corporations, unions, and profit-making groups from making independent political contributions. Additionally, he authored the majority ruling in the 2014 McCutcheon v. FEC case, which determined that aggregate restrictions on the total amount a contributor can provide to different federal candidates or party committees are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
In Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar, decided in 2015, Roberts joined the liberal justices in ruling that states could not forbid judges and judicial candidates from personally soliciting money for their election campaigns under the First Amendment. In the 2021 case of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, the Supreme Court ruled that California’s mandate that nonprofits provide the state’s attorney general with donor information was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.