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Chief Justice Roberts Speaks in Middlebury

Middlebury, Vermont - October 24, 2006

The Supreme Court is used to controversy.  Chief Justice John Roberts drew objections even before his speech at Middlebury College.  A dozen protestors challenged the high court's authority over abortion rights, the war and the treatment of prisoners.

While hundreds waited as much as two hours to get inside Mead Chapel.

"Whether you agree with him or not, he is the Chief Justice and I wanted to see what he has to say," says Olivia Katz, a senior at Middlebury College.

750 people packed the chapel. Another 400 watched on closed-circuit TV.

Roberts paid tribute to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who spent his summers in Greensboro.  He spoke of the role Vermont played in his life and the unconventional choices that defined his character and legacy.

"He missed the state of the union address one year.  When asked why, he said it conflicted with a water color class at the YMCA he had signed up for," Roberts told the crowd.

Roberts said those unconventional choices included changing the direction of the court -- making it more rigorous and focused on the rule of law.

"I think this is the greatest challenge for emerging democracies. In some sense, getting to the point of free election is the easy part. What's hard is establishing an independent judiciary that can enforce the rule of law against the government as well as against the governed."

Roberts spoke for about 20 minutes, then spent a half hour answering questions from the audience. One of the most poignant was about what he considered the most important issue the high court would face during his tenure.

"The impact of modern technology on established legal rules is something we're going to wrestle with over and over again."

Roberts could not comment on cases that may be before the court, leaving most of the controversy outside. But people we talked to said they were impressed by the scope of his speech.

"I was impressed by the Middlebury community not asking inflammatory questions," said Ashley Clark, a Middlebury senior.

"The thing I was intrigued by was not necessarily what he said, but how he said it.  Questions I assumed he would say he could not answer, he would find a way to answer," said Kathryn Babin, a Middlebury senior.

The Chief Justice spent the day in Middlebury. He had lunch with about 40 students then spent the afternoon with Vermont's federal judges, state supreme court justices and the governor.

Kate Duffy - Channel 3 News