John Roberts: Movies & Box Office

John G. Roberts Jr. is an American jurist who has served as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States since 2005, making him the youngest chief justice appointed since John Marshall. Born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, he was raised in a devout Catholic family that moved to Northwest Indiana, where he excelled academically at La Lumiere School and earned a scholarship to Harvard University. At Harvard he graduated summa cum laude in history, then continued at Harvard Law School where he became managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude in 1979. After law school he clerked for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit and then for Justice William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court, experiences that shaped his institutionalist approach to the law. Roberts spent the 1980s in the Department of Justice under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, later joining the private firm Hogan & Hartson where he built a reputation as a leading appellate advocate, arguing dozens of cases before the Supreme Court. In 2003 he was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and a year later President George W. Bush nominated him first as an associate justice and then as chief justice, a nomination confirmed by a 78‑22 Senate vote. As chief justice he has authored majority opinions in landmark cases such as National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (upholding most of the Affordable Care Act) and Shelby County v. Holder (striking down key Voting Rights Act provisions). His jurisprudence is often described as moderate conservative with a strong emphasis on judicial minimalism, institutional stability, and careful statutory interpretation. Outside the bench he is married to Jane Sullivan, a lawyer and legal recruiter, and the couple has adopted two children.