Chief Justice John Roberts closed out 2025 with a message steeped in the nation’s founding history, seeking to reassure Americans of the Constitution’s enduring strength amid a year of political turbulence and looming high-stakes Supreme Court decisions. In his annual report on the federal judiciary, Roberts invoked Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence, underscoring the bedrock principles that, in his view, have kept the country’s legal system “firm and unshaken.” Quoting President Calvin Coolidge’s 1926 sesquicentennial address, Roberts wrote, “True then; true now.”
Roberts’ 13-page letter, released on December 31, 2025, carefully sidestepped direct mention of the year’s most contentious legal and political controversies—immigration, tariffs, and executive power among them. Instead, he focused on the judiciary’s historical role as a counter-majoritarian check, reminding his colleagues and the public that life tenure and salary protections for federal judges were designed to ensure judicial independence. According to Newsweek, Roberts wrote, “The Constitution corrected this flaw, granting life-tenure and salary protections to safeguard the independence of federal judges and ensure their ability to serve as a counter-majoritarian check on the political branches. This arrangement, now in place for 236 years, has served the country well.”
This emphasis on constitutional stability comes after a year in which legal scholars and Democratic leaders warned of a potential constitutional crisis. President Donald Trump’s allies had pushed back fiercely against lower court rulings that slowed his conservative agenda, raising fears about the rule of law and the future of the judiciary. The Trump administration faced setbacks in those lower courts, but notched approximately two dozen victories on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, thanks to the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, which includes Roberts himself.
The Supreme Court’s decisions in 2025 allowed Trump to move forward with several controversial policies: banning transgender people from military service, reclaiming billions in congressionally approved spending, pressing ahead on aggressive immigration measures, and removing Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies. Yet, the court also handed Trump some notable defeats, including blocking his effort to deploy the National Guard to U.S. cities—an episode that underscored the judiciary’s complex relationship with the executive branch.
Roberts’ report, as noted by the Associated Press, avoided direct commentary on these hot-button issues. Instead, it opened with a historical look at Common Sense, describing Thomas Paine as a “recent immigrant to Britain’s North American colonies,” and closed by quoting Coolidge’s call to “turn for solace” to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence “amid all the welter of partisan politics.”
Throughout the year, Roberts had occasionally stepped into the political fray. In March 2025, after President Trump publicly called for the impeachment of a judge who had ruled against him in a deportation case involving Venezuelan migrants accused of gang activity, Roberts issued a rare public rebuke. As reported by Economic Times, Roberts stated, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts’ letter also referenced an early 19th-century case that cemented the principle that Congress should not remove judges over contentious rulings. He cited the failed attempt to impeach Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in 1805, which set a vital precedent protecting judicial independence. According to USA Today, Roberts noted, “Many senators concluded that disapproval of a judge’s decisions provided an invalid basis for removal from office.”
While the annual report was primarily a historical essay, it did not ignore the present entirely. Roberts called on judges to “continue to decide the cases before us according to our oath, doing equal right to the poor and to the rich, and performing all of our duties faithfully and impartially under the Constitution and laws of the United States.” This call to impartiality echoed his previous warnings about threats to judicial independence, including violence, intimidation, disinformation, and efforts to defy lawfully entered judgments.
Beyond the philosophical, Roberts’ report included some hard numbers. Supreme Court filings fell 9% to 3,856 in the 2024 Term, with the Court hearing 73 cases and issuing 56 signed opinions. Meanwhile, federal appeals rose 5%, district court civil filings climbed 4%, and criminal defendant filings surged 13%, a jump largely driven by immigration cases, as detailed by Newsweek.
Looking ahead, the Supreme Court faces a consequential docket in 2026. Among the most closely watched cases are arguments over Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship—a move that would challenge a long-standing interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment—and his authority to impose sweeping tariffs on hundreds of countries. Trump, for his part, has warned that a Supreme Court ruling against his power to apply tariffs would be the “biggest threat in history to United States National Security.” In a post on Truth Social, he argued that tariffs have “greatly enhanced” national security and made the U.S. the “financially strongest” country in the world, adding, “Only dark and sinister forces would want to see that end!!!”
Roberts’ report made only passing reference to these impending legal battles, instead framing the judiciary’s mission in enduring terms. By tracing the influence of Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence on the Constitution, and by revisiting the impeachment trial of Justice Samuel Chase, Roberts sought to remind Americans that the judiciary’s legitimacy rests on principles that predate—and, he implies, outlast—partisan battles.
He also acknowledged that the ideals of liberty and equality articulated in 1776 remain aspirational. Roberts cited Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King Jr. as figures who invoked those principles to advance civil rights, suggesting that the work of perfecting the union is ongoing.
For the judiciary, Roberts’ message was clear: maintain faith in the Constitution, decide cases impartially, and resist the pressures of partisan politics. As the Supreme Court prepares to weigh in on some of the most divisive issues of the era, the chief justice’s historical perspective serves as both a shield and a challenge—urging the courts, and the country, to find stability in the founding documents that have guided America for nearly two and a half centuries.
Amid the noise and uncertainty of the current moment, Roberts’ words offer a reminder that the Constitution’s promise is not just historical—it’s a living commitment, tested anew with each passing year.
