Drawing attention to the fact that less than one percent of the federal budget is allotted to the judicial branch of the government, Roberts said, "The cuts hit us particularly hard because we are made up of people. That is what the judicial branch is. It is not like we are the Pentagon where you can slow up a particular procurement program or a lot of the other agencies. When we have sustained cuts that mean people have to be furloughed or worse and that has a more direct impact on the services that we can provide."
Roberts told the attendees at the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference in West Virginia, that budget cuts made without proper application of mind is putting at stake the abilities of the judiciary to carry out their constitutional purpose. He said, "You get a whole branch of government under the Constitution for relative pennies, and the idea that we have to be swept along because it is good public policy to cut everybody – I am not commenting on that policy at all – but the notion that we should just be swept along with it I think is really unfounded."
He criticized the attitude of justices in the Supreme Court commenting that too many questions are being asked and that lawyers "feel cheated sometimes."
During other portions of his speech, while talking on the propensity of justices asking grilling questions, he commented at different times: "We do overdo it ... The bench has gotten more and more aggressive." "I do think we have gone too far ... It is too much and I think we do need to address it a little bit."
He also went on to praise members of the Congress and said, "I just want to say publicly, that I think our appropriators in Congress are the best legislators since Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and you can quote me on that if you'd like."
Now, if that doesn't get some funds and fewer budget cuts, it's difficult to see what else the Chief Justice may try.
