The+New+Chief+Justice

= T he New Chief Justice = A new term opened with John Roberts as the new Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The 50-year-old Roberts will lead a bench on which seven of the current nine members are over 65. Only Clarence Thomas, at 57, approaches him in age (CNN). Since John Roberts is the youngest people believe he will be there for a while. “One thing that will help Roberts in the transition is that he clerked for then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist in 1980-81, and colleagues say the young lawyer learned valuable lessons in law and leadership from his mentor. Rehnquist died September 3 after battling thyroid cancer for months. Two days later, Roberts was nominated to replace him. Years ago, when preparing for cases, the two men would walk together on the court grounds or Capitol Hill and discuss the issues” (CNN). This shows that the Chief Justice was a good decision considering he was learning from the old Chief Justice and was very aware of some of the issues that he might see.

Roberts wants to increase the caseload of the Supreme Court because they only hear approximately 80 appeals a year and a lot of people think that the court is ignoring many issues that are very important. Roberts has heard two really large cases, one about abortion, and another about assisted suicide.

John Roberts Interview:

http://www.c-span.org/special/ roberts.asp