Day 671: Trump sounds like a dictator in his feud with Chief Justice Roberts

Donald Trump’s heavy politicization of the judiciary has finally led to backlash from the Supreme Court itself.

Trump was angry after his migrant asylum order was struck down and blasted the judge as an “Obama judge.” Trump has previously attacked judges for their racial heritage and other factors. However, he was silent when a Trump-appointed judge ruled against him in his fight to revoke the press credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta. (He is also silent to the fact that his sister was appointed to the federal bench by Bill Clinton.)

From the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts released a statement to the Associated Press about Trump’s rhetoric. In a highly unorthodox move, Roberts said: “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.”

Trump decided to escalate the feud further, declaring the conservative justice wrong about the issues and, apparently, how the Constitution works.

Trump is alleging — again, to the Chief Justice of the United States — that certain judges’ “point[s] of view” are different from people “charged with the safety” of the U.S. But that blatantly ignores that judges are not trying to rule on the motivations or actions of the government in a vacuum. They’re ruling based on Constitutional and statutory interpretation. Judges are trying to ensure that laws are being followed.

Trump’s rhetoric is patently dictatorish: he’s saying the courts must blindly follow the whims of the executive or legislative branch. Such commentary is antithetical to the checks-and-balances system of government that the U.S. enjoys. Divergent views — even those based on 200-plus years of authority — must be thrown out, according to Trump, and the law should be whatever he wants it to be. Based on Trump’s desires, the judiciary would have virtually zero power.

That’s not that way it works in the U.S.

That’s not the way it has ever worked in the U.S.

If Roberts had any qualms about releasing such a monumental statement, that surely dissipated when he saw Trump’s ridiculous response.

671 days in, 791 to go

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