Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asserted that the judiciary must act independently of the other two branches, stressing its role to “check the excesses of Congress or the executive.” Roberts’s defense of an independent judiciary comes as President Donald Trump and his allies have accused federal judges of being partisan and acting purposefully against

The chief justice, in rare public remarks, defended judicial independence before a crowd of lawyers and judges.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts underscored his defense of the American judiciary on Wednesday amid verbal attacks by President Donald Trump and his allies on judges who have impeded aspects of his sweeping agenda,