John G Jr Roberts

Taking advantage of what he called a "historically slow news day," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. released a report today calling for a raise for federal judges. Roberts said in his second year-end report that the issue of lagging salaries "threatens to undermine" the court system. "This is usually the point at which many will put down the annual report and return to the Rose Bowl," he conceded, but he beseeched readers to bear with him long enough to consider some revealing comparisons.

In what may signal a generational shift in power, new Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led a confident conservative majority at the Supreme Court this year and moved the law to the right on abortion, religion, campaign funding and racial diversity. Working with a 5-4 majority, Roberts prevailed in nearly all the major cases.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suffered a seizure Monday while vacationing at his summer home off the coast of Maine, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes. Roberts, 52, was taken by private boat from Hupper Island to the mainland, and then by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine. A statement issued by the Supreme Court said Roberts "underwent a thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern."

U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. compared attorneys to firefighters, telling a law school gathering that both had to jump into tough situations to contain problems. Roberts, who suffered a seizure this summer, looked fit and energetic as he spoke to about 1,000 people at the University of Montana law school event in Missoula. Among other comparisons, Roberts noted that firefighters and lawyers were both viewed as "a little bit nuts" and have a strong sense of camaraderie.

The Supreme Court set the stage Tuesday for a major ruling on abortion by agreeing to decide whether Congress can outlaw what critics call "partial-birth" abortions through the second trimester of a pregnancy. The fate of a federal law, the first nationwide ban on an abortion procedure, is probably in the hands of President Bush's two new appointees: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in less than six months as leader of the Supreme Court, has turned the famously quarrelsome justices, at least for now, into a surprisingly agreeable group that is becoming known for unanimous rulings. Monday's decision rejecting a free-speech challenge to having military recruiters on college campuses marked the ninth consecutive ruling in which all of the justices agreed.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Sunday that he was seeking greater consensus on the Supreme Court, arguing that closer agreement among justices was likely if hot-button issues were decided on the "narrowest possible grounds." In a 15-minute address to Georgetown University law graduates, the 51-year-old chief justice -- the youngest in 200 years -- sketched a vision for leading a court bitterly divided on issues such as abortion, the death penalty and gay rights.

In a wide-ranging speech that touched on issues personal and professional, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said he wanted to improve relations between the courts and Congress to ensure the judiciary remained independent. The comments came during a talk Thursday before a packed ballroom of about 400 people at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference in Huntington Beach.

When John G. Roberts Jr. took over as chief justice at the Supreme Court four years ago, he sounded the same theme that President Obama did more recently. The court was too divided and too polarized, he said, and he proposed a type of judicial bipartisanship. He said he would seek a broader agreement among the justices, even if it sometimes meant deciding cases more narrowly.

With the nomination Tuesday of John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to a bold-stroke presidency -- but also signaled an uncharacteristic interest in reducing his exposure to political risk. Bush repeatedly has shown a willingness to accept pitched political battles as the price of pursuing dramatic change.