Chief Justice John Roberts jokes about trip to 'impregnable' fortress

FARMINGTON, Pa. — U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is joking that he'll be spending some time in "an impregnable island fortress" now that the Supreme Court has ended a session that featured him casting the decisive vote upholding President Barack Obama's health care law.

Responding to a question about his summer plans, Roberts quipped that he thought his planned trip to Malta to teach a class was a "good idea."

He delivered the joke Friday at a federal court conference at a posh Pennsylvania resort.

Roberts declined to answer a question about the landmark opinion issued Thursday. But he says he hopes the court will be remembered for "protecting equal justice under the law."

Roberts was speaking in Farmington, Pa., at a conference hosted by the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit.