The answer to the question “Who is the most powerful man on earth” is generally “The president of the United States”. In two months’ time, it will most probably be Hillary Clinton’s turn to become “the most powerful woman on earth”. Despite the general consensus on this title, the actual award should go to a 61-year-old Harvard graduate and legal expert named John G. Roberts Jr.

Appointed to his post by George W. Bush in 2005, Roberts is the Chief Justice of the United States. His views are conservative, but not overly so, and his function affords him influence over a court comprised of nine judges, all of whom have been granted an indefinite tenure by different presidents of the Unites States. Decisions in the Supreme Court are made through a majority vote by its members, but recent history will remind us that Roberts often has the last word.

The Supreme Court was founded in 1789, the year the first president of the United States was elected. Roberts is the 17th chief justice of the court, while Obama is the