Chief Justice John Roberts has had enough of Donald Trump’s crap
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States rarely speak out on political matters. When they do, such as when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called then-nominee Donald Trump a “faker,” there was backlash against her, and Trump called for her to resign. Similarly, when Justice Samuel Alito mouthed “not true” at the State of the Union speech of President Barack Obama, Alito faced backlash and, since then, has not attend any State of the Union speeches.
Justices have long been compared to hermetic monks, with lives of isolation. While that surely has changed in the last twenty years, with justices frequently appearing in public and giving speeches, writing books and providing some thoughts and opinions, they have generally refrained from public rebukes of political figures.
On Wednesday, in what is perhaps an unprecedented moment, Chief Justice Roberts made the following statement to the Associated Press: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
The rebuke, issued in a statement from the chief justice after the AP inquired, was in response to “President” Donald J. Trump’s attack on the judge who ruled recently in an asylum case. Trump spewed: “This was an Obama judge. And I’ll tell you what, it’s not going to happen like this anymore. It means an automatic loss no matter what you do… People should not be allowed to immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case.” As usual, the great liar, the laziest president, is wrong on his assertions – the judge who made the initial ruling, U.S. District Judge James Robart, was appointed by Trump.
More importantly, Donald Trump’s constant attack on the judiciary has raised the ire of Chief Justice Roberts. This development may not bode well for Trump and his team, who gloated about Justice Brett Kavanaugh being on the Supreme Court and potentially helping Trump, should subpoena issues or other matters get to the Supreme Court. Time will tell on that front, but in the meantime, Trump’s stupidity is once again causing him pushback and rebuke. Happy Thanksgiving to the turkey-in-chief.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.