Roberts sidesteps Supreme Court’s ethics controversies in yearly report

In his annual report to Congress, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts sidestepped recent controversies involving the court’s ethics and organizational issues. Roberts’ report focused on the court’s workload, accomplishments, and efforts to improve services for the legal community. He also praised the court’s staff for managing the court’s transition to virtual proceedings and acknowledged the court’s history of diversity. The report omitted the court’s issues with ethics and organizational matters, such as the recusal of Justice Brett Kavanaugh from a case involving the president and the lack of explain how the court arrived at its decision to protect access to the president’s taxes. Roberts also omitted the reports of informal influence from the President and other entities on the court’s decisions. Critics say Roberts’ omission of ethics discussions reflects the court’s “non-accountability” model by not critically examining the court’s actions and that of individual justices. Roberts’ report is viewed as an overall positive, but some worry it avoids addressing these issues and not taking the opportunity to address the issues and make it clear that the justices will remain fair, unbiased, and independent.