John Roberts


John Glover Roberts Jr. is an American jurist who has served since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. Though primarily an institutionalist, he has been described as having a moderate conservative judicial philosophy. Regarded as a swing vote in some cases, Roberts has presided over an ideological shift toward conservative jurisprudence on the high court, in which he has authored key opinions.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Roberts was raised Catholic in Northwest Indiana and studied at Harvard University, initially intending to become a historian. He graduated in three years with highest distinction, then attended Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Roberts later served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly and Justice William Rehnquist and held positions in the Department of Justice from 1989 to 1993 during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Roberts then built a leading appellate practice, arguing 39 cases before the Supreme Court.
In 1992, Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but the Senate did not hold a confirmation vote. In 2003, Roberts was appointed to that circuit court by President George W. Bush, who in 2005 nominated him to the Supreme Court—initially as an associate justice to fill the vacancy left by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and then to chief justice after William Rehnquist's death. Roberts was confirmed by a Senate vote of 78–22. Aged 50, he was the youngest chief justice since John Marshall, who assumed the office at age 46.
As chief justice, Roberts has authored majority opinions in many landmark cases, including National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, Shelby County v. Holder, Trump v. Hawaii, Carpenter v. United States, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and Trump v. United States. Roberts also presided over President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial.

Early life and education

Roberts was born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, to Rosemary and John Glover "Jack" Roberts Sr., both devout Catholics. His father had Irish and Welsh ancestry and his mother was a descendant of Slovak immigrants from Szepes, Hungary. He has two younger sisters, Margaret and Barbara; an elder sister, Kathy, died in 2021. Roberts spent his early childhood years in Hamburg, New York, where his father worked as an electrical engineer for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's factory in Lackawanna.
In 1965, ten-year-old Roberts and his family moved to Long Beach, Indiana, where his father became the manager of a new steel plant in nearby Burns Harbor. By age 13, Roberts "already had a clear plan for his life." He attended the parochial La Lumiere School, an academically rigorous Catholic boarding school in La Porte, Indiana, where he captained the school's football team, participated in track and field, and was a regional champion in wrestling. He also participated in choir and drama, and was a co-editor of the school newspaper. He graduated in 1973 as class valedictorian, becoming the first graduate of the La Lumiere School to enroll at Harvard University.
At Harvard College, Roberts dedicated himself to studying history, his academic major. He had entered Harvard as a sophomore with second-year standing based on his academic achievements in high school. Roberts first roomed in Straus Hall before moving to Leverett House. Every summer, he returned home to work at the steel plant his father managed. Although he initially felt obscured among other students, Roberts distinguished himself with professors, meriting multiple distinctions for his scholarly writing. He gained a reputation as a serious student who valued formality. Every Sunday, he attended Catholic Mass at St. Paul Church.
As an undergraduate, Roberts excelled academically. He focused on modern European history and maintained an interest in politics. In his first year, he won the university's Edwards Whitaker Scholarship for outstanding scholastic achievement. He intended to pursue a Ph.D. in history to be a professor but also contemplated a legal career. One of Roberts's first papers, "Marxism and Bolshevism: Theory and Practice," won Harvard's William Scott Ferguson Prize for the most outstanding essay by a sophomore history major. An early interest in oral advocacy also led him to study Daniel Webster, a prominent advocate before the Supreme Court. His senior year paper, "The Utopian Conservative: A Study of Continuity and Change in the Thought of Daniel Webster," won a Bowdoin Prize.
In 1976, Roberts obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in history, summa cum laude, with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. A recent surplus of history graduate students convinced him to attend Harvard Law School for better career prospects, though he maintained his original goal to become a professor. His first-year performance in law school placed him in the top 15 students in a class of 550 and won him membership on the Harvard Law Review. The journal's president, David Leebron, chose Roberts as its managing editor, despite their differing political views. Classmate David Wilkins described Roberts as "more conservative than the typical Harvard Law student in the 1970s" but well-liked by fellow students. In 1979, Roberts graduated at the top of his class with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, despite once having to admit himself to a local hospital due to exhaustion. He later regretted that he traveled to Boston on only a couple of occasions during his time at Harvard, being too preoccupied with his studies.

Early legal career

After graduating from law school, Roberts was a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly, one of the most influential judges of the century, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1979 to 1980. Friendly was impressed by Roberts's performance; they shared similar backgrounds, and co-clerk Reinier Kraakman recalled that "there was a bond between them." When Roberts became a federal judge years later, he identified with Friendly's nonpartisan approach to law and maintained a correspondence with him. After finishing his clerkship at the Second Circuit in May, Roberts went to clerk for Justice William Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981.
At the end of his clerkship with Rehnquist, Roberts worked to gain admission to the bar, studying with Michael W. McConnell, a law clerk of Justice William Brennan. After the 1980 presidential election, he resolved to work under the new Reagan administration. Rehnquist recommended him to Ken Starr, who was chief of staff to attorney general William French Smith, and Roberts was named a special assistant to the attorney general. After being admitted to the District of Columbia bar and arriving to the Department of Justice in August 1981, he helped Sandra Day O'Connor prepare for her confirmation hearings.
As an assistant to the attorney general, Roberts concentrated on the scope of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, especially Section 2 and Section 5, both of which Roberts and other Reagan lawyers believed to have unnecessarily intruded on state regulations. He wrote to Friendly, "this is an exciting time to be at the Justice Department, when so much that has been taken for granted for so long is being seriously reconsidered." Among those he worked with were William Bradford Reynolds in the Civil Rights Division, former classmate Richard Lazarus, J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Theodore Olson, and fellow special assistant Carolyn Kuhl.
In 1982, Reagan advisor Fred Fielding recruited Roberts to work at the White House. Fielding gathered a group of lawyers, including J. Michael Luttig and Henry Garrett. From 1982 to 1986, Roberts was an associate with the White House Counsel. He then entered private practice in Washington, D.C., as an associate at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, working in corporate law. E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., under whom he was first assigned, was one of the most prominent advocates in the country along with Rex E. Lee. Roberts also built a successful practice as an appellate lawyer, heading the firm's division for appellate advocacy. He made his first appearance before the Supreme Court in United States v. Halper, arguing against the government, and the Court unanimously upheld his arguments.

Appellate advocacy

In 1989, Ken Starr relinquished his judgeship on the D.C. Circuit to become U.S. Solicitor General under President George H. W. Bush. Needing a deputy, Starr chose Roberts to join the administration as Principal Deputy Solicitor General. "I felt that his experience was good for the political deputy position. was a steady hand, a wise hand. He came in as a person not of vast experience but of vast ability," Starr recalled. With the new appointment, Roberts, whose work had previously been confidential, became a prominent figure at the Supreme Court, leading the filings of the Bush administration and representing it in the media.
As deputy solicitor general, Roberts frequently appeared before the Supreme Court. He argued for a number of conservative positions, including those against abortion, an extensive federal jurisdiction, and policies that afforded special benefits to minority groups. In 1990, he successfully argued his first case in Atlantic Richfield Company v. USA Petroleum Company, which concerned anti-trust law, and then successfully argued the standing case of Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, which became a hallmark in the field. When Starr recused himself in Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC, Roberts took his place, arguing that the use of racial preferences by the Federal Communications Commission was unconstitutional. The position failed to convince the Court, which announced on June 27, 1990, that it had sided with the FCC. Government attorneys, surprised by Roberts's stance against the FCC, discussed whether it contributed to a politicization of the office, as the Solicitor General traditionally defended the government. Thomas Merrill, a deputy for the Solicitor General, described Roberts's candid position simply as: "This affirmative action program violated the Constitution, and we should present that to the Supreme Court."
When Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1991, Roberts's proven experience in complex litigation for the Bush administration made him a leading candidate to fill Thomas's vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. On January 27, 1992, Bush nominated Roberts, who had just turned 37 years old, to the D.C. Circuit, and Starr urged Senator Joe Biden, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to schedule a hearing despite an upcoming election year. Democratic lobbyists and progressive interest groups successfully encouraged Biden to stall the process. As Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 presidential election, Roberts's nomination lapsed with no Senate vote and expired at the end of the 102nd Congress.
In January 1993, Roberts returned to Hogan and Hartson, where, finding great success as an advocate, he began to regularly appear before the Supreme Court. With a reputation as the leading private Supreme Court litigator, Roberts often represented corporations that sued individuals or the government. He was Hogan and Hartson's most prominent partner, arguing 18 Supreme Court cases from 1993 to 2003 and 20 in nationwide appellate courts while also doing work pro bono, demonstrating expertise in a wide variety of different fields.
In June 1995, to Roberts's satisfaction, the Supreme Court overruled his previous loss of Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, establishing that the government must treat people on an individual basis. The next year, his pro bono contributions included giving fundamental aid to gay rights activists in the landmark case of Romer v. Evans. During the 2000 presidential election, Roberts went to Florida to assist George W. Bush, by which time Jeffrey Toobin identified him as "among the top advocates of his generation". According to biographer Joan Biskupic, he built a reputation "for his powers of persuasion and tireless preparation", and "his meticulous preparation and unflagging composure inspired confidence among his well-heeled clients." His arguments against government regulation often appealed to Rehnquist and the Court's conservatives while his style and skill in rhetoric won him the respect of John Paul Stevens and the Court's liberals. Democrats and Republicans alike widely viewed Roberts as one of the most distinguished advocates to appear before the Supreme Court.
CaseArguedDecidedRepresented
First Options v. Kaplan, March 22, 1995May 22, 1995Respondent
Adams v. Robertson, January 14, 1997March 3, 1997Respondent
Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, December 10, 1997February 25, 1999Petitioner
Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc., January 21, 1998March 31, 1998Petitioner
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith, January 20, 1999February 23, 1999Petitioner
Rice v. Cayetano, October 6, 1999February 23, 2000Respondent
Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. Mine Workers, October 2, 2000November 28, 2000Petitioner
TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc., November 29, 2000March 20, 2001Petitioner
Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams, November 7, 2001January 8, 2002Petitioner
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, January 7, 2002April 23, 2002Respondent
Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran, January 16, 2002June 20, 2002Petitioner
Gonzaga University v. Doe, April 24, 2002June 20, 2002Petitioner
Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., October 8, 2002January 15, 2003Respondent
Smith v. Doe, November 13, 2002March 5, 2003Petitioner