Chief Justice Roberts Refuses Senate Judiciary Hearing Appearance.

US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has declined an invitation to testify at an upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on judicial ethics. The committee's Democratic chairman, Dick Durbin, had asked Roberts to appear before the panel to address potential reforms to ethics rules governing the justices. Roberts said he would "respectfully decline" the invitation, adding that such appearances by chief justices were exceedingly rare given concerns about the separation of powers between the three branches of the US government.