As judges face attacks from President Donald Trump, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. says government “doesn’t work if the judiciary is not independent.”

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asserted that the judiciary must act independently of the other two branches, stressing its role to “check the excesses of Congress or the executive.” Roberts’s defense of an independent judiciary comes as President Donald Trump and his allies have accused federal judges of being partisan and acting purposefully against

Chief Justice John Roberts stressed the importance of judicial independence during public remarks Wednesday, noting that the judiciary’s role as a co-equal branch of government is central to the nation’s political system.