Who Is John Roberts? Supreme Court Chief Justice Will Swear In President Donald Trump At The Inauguration

Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump, however, has a one-sidedly contentious history with the moderately conservative justice. He’s insulted Roberts several times though the justice has never said anything, positive or negative, about Trump.

As chief justice, Roberts bailed out the Affordable Care Act twice, the source of much of Trump’s ire.

“I think John Roberts should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said in a phone call with CNBC in 2012, after the first time Roberts upheld the law. “He looks like a dummy, because frankly, his decision does not seem to be written by [a] supposedly smart man.”

The question of the law's constitutionality came up before the Supreme Court again in 2015 on a different issue and Roberts cast the deciding vote to uphold it.

“John Roberts turned out to be an absolute disaster,” Trump told ABC last January. “He turned out to be an absolute disaster because he gave us Obamacare.”

Trump has directed some of his signature Twitter anger at him as well, calling his decision “bulls---” in a 2012 tweet. Despite Trump’s vehement anger toward the chief justice, it’s unclear how Roberts feels about the president-elect because he’s never gone on record with a comment.

The two will meet Friday for the swearing in. This will be Roberts’ fifth time swearing in a president: He did it four times for President Obama. In 2009, he performed the ceremony twice after garbling some words the first time. In 2013, he performed it at the inauguration but had already done it the day before due to constitutional requirements that it be performed on Jan. 20.

Roberts, 61, was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005 as the replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The 17th chief justice, Roberts is the youngest to lead the Supreme Court in 100 years.