15 October 2009

The Supreme Court of the United States

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

By John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice of the United States

In 1776, England’s 13 American colonies declared their independence from British rule. Those new states found strength and unity in firmly held principles. Their Declaration of Independence professed that government exists to serve the people, the people have inalienable rights, and government secures those rights through adherence to the rule of law.

After the fighting ceased on the battlefields, the principles that had ignited a revolution found expression in a written constitution. The Constitution of the United States is a compact among the American people that guarantees individual liberty and fulfills that promise through the establishment of a democratic government in which those who write, enforce, and interpret the law must obey the law as well.

The Constitution prescribes a central role for the Supreme Court in the United States’ system of government. It establishes the Court as an independent judicial body whose judgments are insulated from the influence of popular opinion and the coordinate branches of government. The Court instead is constrained by the principle of fidelity to the law itself. The Constitution requires the Court to adjudicate disputes, regardless of the identity of the parties, according to what the Constitution and duly enacted laws require.

Those of us who have the high privilege of serving on the Supreme Court know that the Court has earned the respect of its nation’s citizens by adhering to the principles that motivated the United States’ Declaration of Independence, that find expression in its Constitution, and that continue to unite the American people. I hope that those revolutionary principles, which are the foundation of the United States’ enduring democracy, are a source of inspiration for nations throughout the world.