Is Chief Justice John Roberts an Institutionalist? A Historical Institutionalist Analysis

Chief Justice John Roberts is often called an “institutionalist,†indicating that he places the good of the Supreme Court as a governing institution over his own political preferences. This description is true only to a limited extent. The historical institutionalist analysis presented here shows that Roberts’s priority is to advance his version of the modern conservative legal movement’s vision of the Constitution, and that he protects the judiciary as an institution in the service of that cause. But because many Americans do not share that vision of constitutionalism, and because its endorsement of executive power may undermine judicial authority, the decisions of the Roberts court may only compound the difficulties facing both the court and the country today. I also discuss implications of the Chief Justice’s disposition, both for the court and for the nation’s evolving conception of constitutionalism.