(CNN) Chief Justice John Roberts sidestepped the roiling controversy over election results on Thursday instead using his annual report to recall the nation's early history combating pandemics and to praise the "unsung heroes" in the judicial branch as they confronted Covid-19. Trump and his allies have suffered blistering losses in the courts, but continue to petition for the justices to overrule election results. This week, the Trump campaign launched two appeals targeting returns in battleground state of Wisconsin, even though the justices have sent a clear signal that they are uninterested in attempts to overturn the election. Roberts, who submits an annual report on the state of the federal judiciary, chose to begin his 2021 edition by describing how more than 200 years ago John Jay, the nation's first chief justice, traveled the country during a deadly spread of the flu. In 1790, Jay wrote from Connecticut that "almost every Family here is down with the Influenza" and later told his wife that "the Whole Country has been sick," including President George Washington.

Source: CNN December 31, 2020 22:52 UTC