In his answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, Roberts wrote,
“When the other branches of government exceed their constitutionally-mandated limits, the courts can act to confine them to the proper bounds. It is judicial self-restraint, however, that confines judges to their proper constitutional responsibilities.” This comment strikes me as a largely accurate, and not very controversial, description of reality. We don’t have many checks on the courts, but rely on their self-restraint. Certain problems can be predicted to arise from this kind of set-up. Robert P. George and I wrote about them in the May 23rd NR (subscription required).