In a new report, Chief Justice John Roberts details several critical concerns that he feels threaten the ability of our judicial system to carry out justice impartially and according to the rule of law.

At the end of each year—only hours before a new year begins—Roberts releases his “Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.” Think of it as a written “State of the Judiciary” address. In this latest report, he focused on “four areas of illegitimate activity that … threaten the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends.”

What are those threats? According to Roberts, they’re “(1) violence, (2) intimidation, (3) disinformation, and (4) threats to defy lawfully entered judgments.”

The first two categories should be uncontroversial. No judges or their families should face violence or threats of violence for simply doing their jobs. And as the chief justice recounts, current efforts to intimidate judges by “protesting” outside of their homes or doxxing them (publicly releasing otherwise private information about them) must be stopped, too.

And while he doesn’t name any particular politicians, he urges public officials (Chuck Schumer? Sheldon Whitehouse?) to use temperance when criticizing the courts because of the “dangerous reactions by others” such statements might prompt.

So far, so good.

But it’s the latter two points that have........

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