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SCOTUS Year-End Report "a Harsh Rebuke to Those Who Prefer Hearsay to the Truth"

Statement from FTC’s Gabe Roth on Chief Justice John Roberts’ year-end report:

“After years of ‘fake news’ accusations from the president and weeks of misdirection from elected officials about foreign interference in the 2016 election, it’s impossible to read Chief Justice Roberts’ report as anything but a harsh rebuke to those in public service who prefer gossip and conjecture to the truth.

“His missive about John Jay’s near-fatal injury due to ‘a rock thrown by a rioter motivated by a rumor’ is a clear warning about how a lack of civic education, and a mistrust of facts, can have dire consequences. These are lessons he’d be wise to recall when he presides over the president’s impeachment trial in the coming weeks.

“More in our lane, it was bittersweet to read Roberts’ praise of the lower courts for educating the public about the judiciary even as he’s failed to implement any of the myriad proposals to open up his own court. Fix the Court and its partners in Congress have long supported expanded broadcast access to facilitate the type of public engagement Roberts is advocating for, and we urge the Chief Justice to back up his words in 2020 with action.”

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