Politics
NEW: Several Activist Judges Reveal Anti-Trump Bias In Stunning Admission
While speaking with NBC News, a dozen federal judges expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court for overturning their rulings in “Trump cases.”
The article, titled “In rare interviews, federal judges criticize Supreme Court’s handling of Trump cases,” NBC News cited 12 anonymous federal judges who are “frustrated” that the high court continues to overturn their own sweeping, controversial rulings against the Trump Administration. The judges particularly took issue with how such rulings, according to them, contain “little to no explanation.”
Ten of the judges accused the justices of behaving “inexcusably” by “assisting” the Trump Administration.
“When judges issue rulings the Trump administration does not like, they are frequently targeted by influential figures in MAGA world and sometimes Trump himself, who called for a judge who ruled against him in a high-profile immigration case to be impeached. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has said the administration is the victim of a ‘judicial coup,” reads the article, which was penned by Lawrence Hurley.
“The judge who said the Supreme Court justices are behaving inexcusably has received threats of violence and is now fearful when someone knocks on the door at home.”
One judge went so far as to claim that people “will die” if “threats” against federal judges are allowed to continue. “If major efforts are not made to address the situation, the judge said, ‘somebody is going to die,’” Hurley wrote.
To date, the Supreme Court has granted Trump 17 victories in the early days of his second term, according to an analysis from the Daily Caller. Five of these, the anonymous judges claimed, have come with “little to no” explanation.
The judges further claimed that their authority is being “undermined” by the Supreme Court. “It’s very discouraging,” one judge said. “We are operating in a bit of a vacuum.”
Others criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for not defending the judiciary against criticism from the Trump Administration against some of their more controversial orders. Other judges were less willing to criticize the chief justice.
Among the primary complaints from activist judges were President Trump’s cuts to the Department of Education, as well as firing members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board. In a somewhat surprising note, one Obama-appointed judge stated that some of the lower courts were “out of line” by blocking some of Trump’s policies.
Critics have argued that the NBC News article is a glaring admission of political bias on the part of many of the judges quoted. “It’s pure insanity for NBC to grant these judges anonymity,” said conservative strategist Steve Guest. “It’s journalistic malpractice that doesn’t allow readers to make informed decisions about the judges’s biases.”
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have previously expressed concern with sweeping rulings from lower courts, including some that appeared designed to sidestep Supreme Court rulings. “Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this court’s decisions, but they are never free to defy them,” Justice Gorsuch wrote in his opinion on a ruling that allowed the administration to cancel nearly $800 million in research grants.
“This is now the third time in a matter of weeks this court has had to intercede in a case ‘squarely controlled’ by one of its precedents,” wrote Gorsuch. “When this court issues a decision, it constitutes a precedent that commands respect in lower courts.”
