Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called out President Donald Trump‘s administration for attacking federal judges across the country who ruled against it, calling the remarks “not random” and seemingly “designed to intimidate.”
Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court via email Thursday night for comment.
Why It Matters
Since his January inauguration, the president has enacted sweeping change across the federal political landscape, mainly through executive orders and implementing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Part of Trump’s agenda that is getting held up in the courts in part is his push for mass deportations of immigrants in the United States.
Within the first 100 days of his second term, the president has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, granting him authority to deport and detain noncitizens. The implementation was originally blocked in court, with a judge calling for planes mid-flight to turn around.
What To Know
While speaking at a judges’ conference in Puerto Rico on Thursday, the Democratic- appointed justice said she’d like to address “the elephant in the room,” seemingly pointing to the president’s administration, Politico reported.
“The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate,” she added. “The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government. And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Jackson seemed to offer some advice to those in attendance, saying, “I urge you to keep going, keep doing what is right for our country, and I do believe that history will vindicate your service.”
Jackson is not alone in her concerns surrounding the Trump administration’s attacks on judges who rule against the White House.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee, said in a rare statement, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Trump has notably called for U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg to be impeached over his rulings involving the Alien Enemies Act.
Other Trump administration officials have called out judges, mostly related to immigration policy rulings, but also on DOGE-related actions.
What People Are Saying
Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, on X, formerly Twitter, this week in reaction to a judge’s ruling: “It takes days or weeks to obtain a single warrant for a single criminal search. Requiring a warrant for Border Patrol to conduct an interdiction of an illegal alien is an act of legal insurrection against national sovereignty.”
Miller continued, “Never in the history of our country or any country has a criminal judicial warrant been required to stop a foreign trespasser from invading your territory. Congress, indeed, has explicitly EXCLUDED all such procedures for alien removals. This is madness.”
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland posted to X in March: “Trump is imposing an ultimatum on judges: agree with my bogus analysis of the law or face impeachment. Never has a judge been impeached over doctrinal differences—in other words, for doing their jobs. MAGA now wants to make sound legal analysis a high crime and misdemeanor.”
Trump, during his 100th day in office speech in Michigan, in part: “We cannot allow a handful of communist radical left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States. Judges are trying to take away the power given to the president to keep our country safe … it’s not a good thing.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to help remove a ruling from a lower court to pave the way for thousands of deportations of Venezuelan immigrants.