• Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday released the annual Supreme Court report in which he recalled the violent resistance the judiciary faced when it aggressively dismantled state-enforced racial segregation in the 1950s and ‘60s.
• “A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear. The events of Little Rock teach about the importance of rule by law instead of by mob,” he wrote, referring the 1957-58 term, during the Civil Rights Era, when Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus defied court orders to desegregate Little Rock Central High School.
• Roberts thanked Congress for passing a judicial security bill and law-enforcement agencies for protecting courthouses but he made no references the hight court this past summer  striking down Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion and the subsequent, alleged assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
• Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a co-sponsor of the judicial-security bill that the chief justice cited, called the report “a huge missed opportunity” and said Roberts “seems to have made a real labored effort to avoid the key issues that are causing the court’s steep decline in credibility,” which has been shown in polls.

Tagged: SCOTUS