On Sunday, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was the sole member of the Supreme Court to join hundreds of other Washingtonians at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for the Red Mass, a ceremony typically held on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, the opening of the high court’s term. The purpose of the ritual, which at the Washington cathedral dates to 1953, is to “invoke God’s blessings on those responsible for the administration of justice as well as on all public officials,” according to the event’s program.
