Chief Justice John Roberts declines Senate Democrats' request to testify on Supreme Court ethics rules

Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the Supreme Court's ethics rules.

"I must respectfully decline your invitation," Roberts wrote the committee in a letter dated Tuesday, citing the "exceedingly rare" circumstances a Chief Justice of the United States would testify before Congress, "as one might expect in light of separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence." Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.

Roberts cited the few instances throughout U.S. history in which a chief justice had testified before Congress on "routine matters" and "mundane topics," and noted the infrequency of the Executive Branch, meaning the president, also testifying before Congress.