Chief Justice Roberts wrote on Friday that the federal judiciary had taken many steps to make its workplaces safe, including revising its procedures to “provide robust mechanisms for reporting and addressing instances of misconduct.”
As is his custom, the chief justice began his report with a historical sketch. This year, it was of William H. Taft, who was appointed to be chief justice a century ago, after having served as president. Chief Justice Taft, a large man, was an energetic administrator.
“Taft sought to supplant the prevailing culture of isolation in which each judge was — in his words — left to ‘paddle his own canoe,’” Chief Justice Roberts wrote.
“Once you get past the image of ‘Big Bill’ paddling a canoe, consider that he knew well how to navigate the halls of Congress,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote, adding, “He threw his considerable political heft into creating the mechanisms of self-governance for federal courts across the country.”
Although Chief Justice Roberts did not address proposals to increase the size of his court or to impose terms limits on its members, he described with approval Chief Justice Taft’s efforts to preserve judicial independence.
“He understood that criticism of the courts is inevitable,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “and he lived through an era when federal courts faced strident calls for reform, some warranted and some not.”
The proper response, the current chief justice said Chief Justice Taft once observed, was “to remove, as far as possible, grounds for just criticism of our judicial system.”