President Donald Trump and others have been highly critical of the several federal judges who, at times for seemingly partisan purposes, have ignored existing legal interpretations and precedents and ruled to block Trump's executive orders on multiple fronts within his policy agenda.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to side with some of those partisan "activist judges" by staunchly defending the ideal of judicial independence, Fox News reported.

This is far from the first time that Roberts has defended the federal courts and judges from Trump's criticism, and that stands in stark contrast to the fact that the chief justice has rarely, if ever, similarly called out lower court judges for ignoring higher court orders and precedents or acting overtly as partisan activists.

Roberts defends notion of judicial independence amid Trump criticisms

UPI reported that Chief Justice Roberts participated on Wednesday in a celebration of the 125th anniversary of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, based in Buffalo, in which Roberts chatted with U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo.

Though President Trump was not mentioned by name in the conversation, it became clear that that was who Roberts likely had in mind as he talked about the importance of judicial independence at one point in the discussion.

"In our Constitution, the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president," Roberts said. "That innovation doesn't work if the judiciary is not independent."

"Its job is to decide cases," he continued, "but in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence."

Roberts has spoken out against Trump previously

At another point in the discussion, per UPI, Chief Justice Roberts responded to a question from Judge Vilardo about the frustrated calls from President Trump and other Republican lawmakers for the impeachment of some of the federal judges who've blocked critical aspects of Trump's executive orders and policy agenda.

"Impeachment is not how you register disagreement with decisions. That's what we're there for," Roberts said of his Supreme Court as he referenced a rare prior statement released in March that had decried the GOP's talk of impeaching judges as an inappropriate misuse of the constitutional tool to remove judges from the bench.

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," the chief justice said at the time, according to The Hill. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

That, in turn, echoed another statement released by Roberts in 2018 that chided Trump for calling out the partisanship of certain judges by noting which past president had nominated them.

"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," he asserted at that time. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."

Roberts can't criticize one side while ignoring the other

To be sure, Chief Justice Roberts is correct in noting the critical importance of an independent judiciary in its crucial role of serving as a check against the powers of the executive and legislative branches.

That said, his inconsistency in not also calling out the overtly partisan and activist district judges who've ignored longstanding laws and precedents to block moves from the Trump administration that they disagree with politically is galling, and further undermines his credibility at a time when public trust in the judiciary is already waning.