Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The United States District Court for the Western District of New York is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2025 after being established on May 12, 1900.
Part of its quasquicentennial celebration this year, the district held a special event on Wednesday, welcoming U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to Buffalo for a fireside chat with U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo.
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Part of the significance of the trip to Western New York for Chief Justice Roberts is the fact he was born in Buffalo, and spent his early childhood growing up in Hamburg.
In the hours before the Roberts' appearance at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Buffalo, though, a number of local protestors took to the sidewalks outside the hotel to voice their displeasures with not only his policies, but a number of recent decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We are very concerned about our democracy, and while freedom of speech is still floating around, we're going to be here," said East Aurora native Sheila in an interview with WBEN.
Local protestor Caitlin Love-Crowell felt it would be criminal for Roberts to be able to be back in town without being reminded of how many people disagree with his policies.
"I'm sure that a lot of people are here because they're dismayed with the court's decision that they handed on yesterday, their preliminary decision about disallowing trans folks in the military. A lot of people are certainly upset still about over the overturning of Roe v. Wade, about the Dobbs [v. Jackson] decision. There are probably some folks who are upset about Citizens United," said Love-Crowell with WBEN. "On any given day, I'm more upset about him undoing the Voting Rights Act."
"His record is atrocious, particularly regarding women's rights, amongst other things. And he also voted to give the president immunity, it's all of those things," Sheila added. "It's a big ball of wax, but I'm here for all of them. But human rights is a huge one for me."
For local protestor Melissa Galluch-Leitzan, there's one decision of Roberts that had he out with her family and others protesting the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Certainly his decision to give Trump immunity is having deteriorous consequences on our country, with him thinking that he is able to do things without checks and balances," said Galluch-Leitzan with WBEN.
Since the formation of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justices are appointed by the President to "ensure an independent Judiciary and to protect judges from partisan pressures." In recent years, though, the Supreme Court has faced criticism for decisions that have been perceived by many as favoring certain political parties, one way or the other.
Should Justices on the Supreme Court, no matter their politics, be sharing their views publicly? Protestors on-hand Wednesday are only asking the Supreme Court to uphold the law, and maintain the founding notions of equity and fairness.
"As my daughter had put it, justice is supposed to be blind, and I know that the Supreme Court is at its all-time low, as far as popularity. I think that's partially because people are certainly perceiving whether true or imagined. And I do believe it's true of political bias," Galluch-Leitzan said.
Love-Crowell believes many people tend to more split on Justices keeping more of an appearance of impartiality, rather than people knowing exactly what their ideology is?
"I was just talking with a friend who said that he actually appreciates when you know exactly where a justice comes from," she said. "The problem with Roberts, of course, is he wants to convey the fact that he is moderate, that he listens to everybody, when in fact, he's anything but moderate. He is in favor of discrimination, he is absolutely against equality. He's absolutely not in the court of women, of Muslims, of gay people, of trans people. That's shocking."