A war of words has continued into the Thanksgiving weekend between President Donald Trump and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result. Judges must not Legislate Security…and Safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great Law Enforcement professionals MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB! If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death. We want the Constitution as written!” President Trump wrote in a series of tweets this morning.
The President’s words came in response to a chastisement of Mr. Trump by Roberts earlier in the week.
“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,” Roberts said.
The back-and-forth started when President Trump harshly criticized the 9th U.S. Circuit for what he calls political bias in their rulings.
“It’s a disgrace when every case gets filed in the 9th Circuit,” Trump said as part of a longer statement of that court. “That’s not law. Every case in the 9th Circuit we get beaten and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court like the travel ban and we won. Every case, no matter where it is, they file is practically, for all intents and purposes, they file it in what’s called the 9th Circuit. This was an Obama judge. I’ll tell you what, it’s not going to happen like this anymore,” he wrote.
The President’s words came in response to a judge from the Northern District of California who issued a restraining striking down a decision by the Trump administration to bar South American migrants from crossing into the U.S. illegally seeking asylum. The 9th U.S. Circuit is where cases from the Northern District of California get appealed.
Mr. Trump has seen a number of his administration’s decisions get struck down in the 9th Circuit, including a controversial travel ban on individuals coming to the U.S. from majority-Muslim countries.
Roberts, who has been weary of seeing the High Court politicized, took umbrage with the President’s classification of judges. Mr. Trump, however, was not deterred.
“Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges,’ and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an ‘independent judiciary,’ but if it is why…are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security – these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!” he wrote on Twitter in response to Roberts’ comments.
Roberts was reportedly dismayed over the contentious – and highly politicized – confirmation hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. “I will not criticize the political branches,” Roberts told a University of Minnesota audience last month. “We do that often enough in our opinions. But what I would like to do, briefly, is emphasize how the judicial branch is — how it must be — very different.”
Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court in October.
Photo by The White House via Wikimedia Commons