When you are the ultimate judicial authority in the United States overseeing a supreme court which just controversially ruled that a US president is immune from criminal prosecution, where do you go to lay low while the dust settles?
Well, you go to Galway, of course.
Chairman of the United States’ supreme court, Chief Justice John Roberts, was spotted in Galway city last week, fresh from ruling in the landmark Trump v USA case on July 1 that decided presidential immunity from prosecution extends to all “official acts” a US head of state may carry out.
The ruling, which was reported around the globe and continues to be parsed by legal experts, arose from an ongoing federal investigation into election interference in the 2020 US presidential election, including the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol buildings in Washington DC.
On an unofficial visit to the west of Ireland, travelling with his wife, some friends and a small Secret Service security detail, America’s top judge appeared to go to great lengths to avoid notice or publicity, and sources aware of the visit said his minders ratcheted up the group’s security on the judge’s last day in Galway after the failed assassination attempt on former US president Trump last Saturday.
Eschewing fancy hotels and civic receptions, Chief Justice Roberts, who swore Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden in to office, is understood to have rented a private residence in Galway city for at least six days until Sunday where he had meals catered by a top Galway city restaurant. Roberts was in Ireland for ten days.
Security sources told the Advertiser that the judge did venture out incognito with his Irish-American wife, Jane Sullivan, to locations across the county with - presumably - armed bodyguards, but remained tight-lipped on his itinerary. Sullivan, a top legal recruiter in Washington, has relations in Munster, and reportedly co-owns a cottage near the Cork-Limerick border.
It is understood John Roberts did book a conference room at University of Galway’s Institute for Lifecourse and Society during his time in Galway, but university authorities seemed unaware of the visit, and a small number of academics privy to the visit were unwilling to comment. Roberts, reportedly an Irish dancing enthusiast, was also spotted at the Willie Clancy summer school in Co Clare last week, but this sighting could not be verified.
In response to queries on whether Galway gardaí were informed there were armed Secret Service men staying in the city, Garda HQ said it “does not discuss or comment on matters of State security or related security matters”.
The Department of Justice said “members of services from outside the State may be licensed to carry firearms for the purposes of providing close personal protection,” and that “each request is dealt with on a case-by-case basis” by specific Garda officers in each division, but did not confirm if the US Chief Justice’s party made such an application.
Asked whether foreign VIPs were currently in the area, a senior garda in Galway told the Advertiser: “Well we wouldn’t tell ye anyway, the Americans wouldn’t like it.”
The US embassy in Dublin did not respond to queries, and a spokeswoman for the US Supreme Court said the judge appreciated the Galway Advertiser’s interest in an interview request while holidaying in Galway, “but must decline”.
“The Chief Justice will not have any press availability during his visit to Ireland,” she said. “Thank you for your understanding.”
Scrap the front page so.
