1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

Investigate Chief Justice Roberts for Ethics Violations and Financial Misconduct Open a formal investigation into Chief Justice John Roberts and take action toward his removal if the evidence warrants it. The financial record is damning: between 2007 and 2014, his wife Jane Roberts received $10.3 million in commissions from law firms including WilmerHale, Hogan Lovells, and Davis Polk — firms that argued cases before her husband's Court. Roberts reported that income as salary on his federal disclosure forms. A law professor and a former White House ethics lawyer have both said that characterization is wrong. An attorney who worked alongside Jane Roberts alleged under oath that her earnings traded directly on her husband's position. The D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel refused to even open a misconduct complaint against Roberts, citing a federal statute about judicial conduct that doesn't apply to Justices and doesn't cover personal financial disclosures. That same office successfully argued in the Jeffrey Clark proceedings that no exemption from bar discipline exists for federal officials. They cannot hold that position and also close this complaint. The Board on Professional Responsibility meets September 10 to consider the closure. Congress should be watching that meeting and ready to act. No one gets to be above the rules they swore to uphold. If the bar system won't apply its own precedent to the Chief Justice, Congress has both the authority and the obligation to step in. Start the investigation now.