WASHINGTON, D.C.: Two days after President Donald Trump called a federal judge who ruled against the administration "wacky, nasty, crooked, and totally out of control," Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that personal criticism of federal judges has "got to stop."
Roberts was careful not to single out Trump or anyone else, but insisted that attacks on judges are not from "just any one political perspective."
Criticism of judicial opinions is part of the job and can be healthy, Roberts said in remarks at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. However, when criticism moves away from legal analysis and becomes personal, it's dangerous and must stop.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who shared the stage with the chief justice, thanked Roberts because "we always know that you have our backs and that means a great deal."
The U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for protecting judges, reported 564 threats in the federal fiscal year ending in September, an increase from the previous year. Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged these serious threats and noted that Congress had responded by increasing funding for judicial security.
President Donald Trump's latest remarks about judges came on March 15 in a post on Truth Social, after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg dismissed subpoenas issued by the Justice Department to the Federal Reserve.
Trump described Boasberg as erratic, hostile, dishonest, and out of control. He also claimed that the judge suffered from what he called "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and had been targeting him and his associates for years.
Last year, Roberts publicly rejected Trump's call to impeach Boasberg after the judge blocked additional deportations to a controversial prison in El Salvador.
Trump has also strongly criticized Roberts and the five other justices who struck down global tariffs he had imposed under an emergency powers law. He said he felt deeply ashamed of the court members who ruled against him, questioned their patriotism, and specifically pointed to two of his own appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch.
Trump's allies and officials in his administration have echoed similar criticism. After U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston blocked the administration's attempt to reshape vaccine policy on March 16, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche remarked that several of Murphy's earlier rulings had been overturned.
He questioned how many times Murphy could be reversed in a single year, added that the judge had issued another activist decision despite being warned for repeatedly failing to follow the law, and said the administration would continue appealing such rulings and expected to keep winning. Blanche also questioned how much embarrassment the judge could endure.
