Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts took some veiled jabs at Democrats in a spirited defense of judicial independence to cap off 2024.

In his end-of-year report, Roberts condemned "illegitimate" attempts to intimidate federal judges or defy their rulings.

Without naming anyone, Roberts criticized people "across the political spectrum" urging "open disregard" of the court's independence.

"These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving," he added.

Roberts blasts attacks on judiciary

During his first term, President Trump sometimes criticized the Supreme Court's conservative majority when it didn't rule the way he wanted. But attacks on the federal courts reached a new level under President Biden, especially after the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Biden has repeatedly rejected rulings from the Roberts court as "extreme" and beyond the pale, while Democrats have whipped up a continuous storm of outrage accusing the conservative justices of corruption.

The left's pressure campaign has singled out two of the court's most reliable conservatives, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, over ties to billionaire donors. The justices have even faced calls for recusal over their respective wives' political activities.

Efforts to discredit the Supreme Court reached a fever pitch after the justices ruled in Trump's favor in a historic case on presidential immunity last year, leading critics, including Biden, to claim the court put Trump "above the law."

"Public officials, too, regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges—for example, suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations," Roberts wrote in his report.

Biden called for ethical reforms in July, casting the court as an existential threat to "our democracy." 

Partisan intimidation

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-Ny.), in an infamous 2020 rant, threatened conservative justices by name, one of whom, Brett Kavanaugh, later faced an assassination attempt. Roberts appeared to reference left-wing efforts to intimidate justices at their homes, as well as the violent threat against Kavanaugh.

"Doxing also can prompt visits to the judge’s home, whether by a group of protestors or, worse, an unstable individual carrying a cache of weapons," he wrote. "Both types of activity have occurred in recent years in the vicinity of the Nation’s capital," he wrote.

Attacks on the court's integrity have also come from within, most notoriously with the leak of the Dobbs ruling, which repealed Roe v. Wade. Roberts condemned the "appalling" leak at the time and ordered an investigation, but the culprit was never found.