Chief Justice Roberts Warns of ‘Dangerous’ Hostilities Toward Judges

Chief Justice Roberts is warning that personal attacks on members of the judiciary are “dangerous” and says “it’s got to stop.”The chief justice’s comments came Tuesday during an appearance at Rice University, and they were delivered as he and other members of the court face an ongoing series of blistering attacks from President Trump.Chief Justice Roberts did not mention the president by name but said, “Judges around the country work very hard to get it right, and if they don’t, their opinions are subject to criticism. But personally directed hostility is dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”Hours after the Supreme Court 6-3 decision in February striking down Mr. Trump’s tariff policy, the president laced into the Republican-appointed justices who ruled against him, calling them “fools and lap dogs for the RINOs.”RINOs is an acronym for “Republicans in name only.”George W. Bush-appointed Chief Justice Roberts joined two appointees of Mr. Trump, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in siding with the three liberal members of the court in the decision.Mr. Trump said that the justices were “an embarrassment to their families.”Mr. Trump continued his attacks on the Supreme Court in a lengthy post on his Truth Social account on Sunday. Mr. Trump thanked Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh for siding with him on the tariffs and then lashed out at the majority of justices.“They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are,” Mr. Trump wrote.“This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be,” Mr. Trump continued. “They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior!”Chief Justice Roberts had been muted in his response to the verbal attacks. Last year, however, in a rare public statement, he said that a demand from Mr. Trump that a federal district judge, James Boasberg, be impeached was “not an appropriate response” to the jurist’s decisions against the administration.Judge Boasberg presided over the case concerning the deportation of alleged gang members to an El Salvadoran prison and ruled against the Trump administration.Mr. Trump returned to his attacks on Judge Boasberg in this past weekend’s posts. Mr. Trump claimed that Judge Boasberg was “a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS),” and claimed he had “eagerly supported the arrest and persecution of innocent Republicans for no crimes at all.”Federal judges have faced a growing number of threats. One judge who ruled against the Trump administration last year was “swatted” and later became the victim of a bomb threat.Other judges have had anonymous pizza deliveries that are seen as a form of intimidation, letting the judges know that people know where they live.Supreme Court justices have faced their own threats. In 2022, protesters staked out the homes of conservative justices after a leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that reversed the Rowe v. Wade decision. A man armed with a gun, knife and zip ties was arrested near the home of Justice Kavanaugh after threatening to kill him. Nicholas Roske was sentenced last year to more than eight years in prison in connection with the incident.

Chief Justice Roberts Warns of ‘Dangerous’ Hostilities Toward Judges

Chief Justice Roberts Warns of ‘Dangerous’ Hostilities Toward Judges

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