Professor Amar Comments for N.Y. Times About Chief Justice's Power Over 'Unruly' Supreme Court
In a July 2 article in the New York Times, Professor Vikram Amar offered analysis of the role of Chief Justice John Roberts during this year's tumultuous Supreme Court term. The article points out that while the recently ended term that included several controversial cases left many unhappy, it was a triumph for Roberts.
“Despite the obvious tensions within the court and the difficulty of managing such a fiercely independent group of jurists, Roberts is on his way to becoming one of the most influential chief justices of all time,” Amar said.
Experts quoted in the article said that it was astounding that the chief justice wrote the majority opinions for the three biggest cases of the year, involving President Trump's tariffs program, separation of powers between the president and Congress, and the challenge to the constitutional understanding of birthright citizenship.
Vikram Amar, one of the nation's most eminent and frequently cited authorities in constitutional law, federal courts, and civil procedure, holds the Daniel J. Dykstra Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He returned to UC Davis as a distinguished professor of law in 2023 after serving for eight years as dean and Iwan Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law.