Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday that the Supreme Court doesn’t feature “purely political actors,” comments that come after a notable decision affecting the Voting Rights Act.

“I think, at a very basic level, people think we’re making policy decisions, we’re saying we think this is how things should be, as opposed to what the law provides,” Roberts told 3rd U.S. Circuit judges and lawyers at a conference, according to The Associated Press.

“I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.”

The court under Roberts has shifted to the right as three conservatives were added to its roster. All three, Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, were nominated by President Trump.

Barrett replaced liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after she died while still serving on the court in 2020.

The 6-3 conservative majority has issued rulings on a number of hot-button topics, most notably a 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court declared Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The decision, 6-3, weakened a central provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has historically enabled advocacy groups to force the creation of additional majority-minority districts. Last Wednesday’s decision does not get rid of the provision as a whole, with Justice Samuel Alito portraying it as an “update” to the framework that has governed Voting Rights Act cases for decades.

The Supreme Court’s liberal justices called their colleagues’ decision last week a “now-completed demolition” of the Voting Rights Act.

Justice Elena Kagan pointed to the 1965 law as helpful to American progress on racial discrimination in a 48-page dissent.

“At this last stage, the Court’s gutting of Section 2 puts that achievement in peril,” Kagan wrote.

“I dissent because Congress elected otherwise,” she continued. “I dissent because the Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court’s decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity. I dissent.”

Trump hailed the voting rights decision, though he has also criticized the justices for not siding with him on other issues. For example, Trump criticized conservative justices who ruled against him on a tariff decision as disloyal.

Roberts, Barrett and Gorsuch all voted with the liberal justices on that 6-3 decision.

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