SYRACUSE - Ensuring a strong independent judiciary is crucial to upholding the strength of the First Amendment, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday as he helped Syracuse University dedicate the third building in the school's Newhouse School of Public Communications complex.

Speaking to a capacity audience of 1,100 in Syracuse's Hendricks Chapel, Roberts said it has been an independent judiciary that has given true vitality to the First Amendment's inspirational words promising free speech and freedom of the press.

“There can be little doubt that the First Amendment would be the first victim should the independence of our judiciary be curtailed,” Roberts said during a 20-minute keynote address, which was simulcast on campus television.

Following his speech, Roberts joined with media magnate S.I. Newhouse Jr. and Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor to dedicate the new $31.6 million Newhouse III building. The Newhouse Foundation and the Newhouse family contributed $15 million for the construction of the 74,000-square-foot building.

The signature design elements are the 45 words of the First Amendment, which are etched in the glass walls on the outside of the building's ground floor.

“Do not think for a moment that those words alone will protect you,” said Roberts, 52, making just his second public speaking appearance since suffering a seizure in July. Roberts spoke last week at the University of Montana law school.

He then read an excerpt from the Soviet Union constitution, written in 1977, guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion and assembly.

“All lies ... without an independent judiciary to give substance to the constitutional text as law, the words are nothing but empty promises,” Roberts said.

Displaying a sharp wit, and quoting often from his predecessors on the nation's highest court, Roberts briefly summarized the history of the First Amendment and the law surrounding it.

He said the First Amendment has been an ever-changing principle that has gained a stronger foothold with each passing generation.

“It is easy to forget how far we've come,” he said.

Roberts said the country's founders realized the importance of freedom of speech and expression “because they didn't have it.”

It was a revolutionary concept when the framers of the Constitution wrote it, he said.

The country's founders understood that rights were not guaranteed unless there was an independent judiciary that could uphold those freedoms. That is why they insulated the judiciary from the legislative and executive branches, understanding that the courts would often have to make unpopular decisions contrary to public opinion, he said.

“We don't need the First Amendment to protect speech that is trendy, conventional, popular or politically correct. The First Amendment assures the voice of the real nonconformist, the underdog, the unfashionable, also will be heard,” Roberts said.

“It is not just the words. It is a constitutional system of separated powers that provide the judiciary with the ability to make the words a reality,” Roberts said.

Outside the chapel, a handful of students held up signs reading, “Bong hits for Roberts,” to protest the Supreme Court's decision in June restricting student speech rights.

In a 5-4 decision written by Roberts, the justices said an Alaska high school student could be suspended for holding up a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” because it advocated illegal drug use.

“His recent ruling doesn't exactly prove his support of the First Amendment. We hope in the future he demonstrates stronger support for students' rights and the First Amendment,” said Melanie English, 21, of Miami, Fla., a senior broadcast journalism major at Newhouse.

A native of Buffalo, Roberts took his seat as the nation's top jurist in September 2005. His nomination received more Senate votes than any other nominee for Chief Justice in American history.