Chief Justice John Roberts, 70, who has been on the Supreme Court since 2005, said Wednesday that he hasn’t thought about retiring but he doesn’t want to be a burden to the court should his health decline.
“I’m sure if your health declines and if you recognize that you’re a burden to the court rather than part of an assist to everybody, then you know it’ll be time to go,” Roberts said in a fireside chat from Buffalo, New York, where he was marking the 125th anniversary of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
Roberts was born in Buffalo in 1955. His family moved to Indiana in 1965.
“I have very good friends that were for a long time, many years, and I sat down with them and said – because you don’t always notice that you’re slipping — I want the two of you to tell me if it’s time to go,” Roberts told U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo of the Western District. “[After] a long pause, and at once the two of them said, ‘It’s time to go.’ So, I said all right, never mind.”
Even though Roberts, appointed to the court as chief justice by George W. Bush, has served for two decades, he is younger than Justices Clarence Thomas, 76; Samuel Alito, 75; and Sonia Sotomayor, who turns 71 on June 25.
He said age isn’t an issue for Supreme Court justices serving lifetime appointments.
“It is surprising how rare it has been on the court for that to become an issue,” he said. “Really just a handful of times. I think it’s because it’s a collegial both in a technical sense and a popular sense group of people that you develop relationships where if the people do come. … There have been times when somebody has stayed a little longer than they should, then the other colleagues come, and it’s always really worked out. So, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
Roberts said he still feels “pretty healthy” and loves his job.
“It’s exciting to get up every morning and go into work,” he said. “It’s nice that we have a break in the summer. Louis Brandeis, one of our great justices, said that he could do the 12 months’ worth of work in 10 months. But he couldn’t do it in 12 months, and I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.
“We work at very close quarters on very important issues, on very sensitive issues, work that is hard to do, and we do need a little break, a break from each other.
“It really creates such a strong bond. I’m sure people, listening to the news or reading our decisions, particularly, you know, decisions that come out in May and June, maybe think, Boy, those people really must, you know, hate each other. They must be at hammer and tongs the whole time, and we don’t.”
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