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Chief Justice Roberts takes shot at Trump after nuclear hot blast at SCOTUS, judges

March 18, 2026 | | Print Article

Seemingly slighting the president, the public was none too keen on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’s take on “dangerous” criticisms.

Viewed by many as more interested in crafting his own legacy through curated cases than reining in rampant activism throughout the federal judicial branch, the so-called conservative court under Roberts has often appeared more of a coin toss.

Tuesday, only a couple of days after President Donald Trump went scorched earth over politicized courts, the chief justice once again found himself postured against the chief executive as he drew a line between “healthy” critiques and “personally directed hostility” that has “got to stop.”

Joining U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Judge Lee Rosenthal for a conversation at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Roberts was asked about criticism of the court, which he acknowledged, “does come with the territory.”

“It can very much be healthy. We don’t believe that we’re, you know, flawless in any way. And it’s important that our decisions are subjected to scrutiny, and they are. The problem sometimes is that the criticism can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities,” the jurist said before hedging that he wasn’t speaking of one side of the political aisle or another. “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.”

Since the court’s 6-3 decision against Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) to impose certain tariffs, the president has frequently spoken out about the perceived slant of the bench.

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Without referring to them by name, he called out Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, stating in the midst of a lengthy Truth Social post, “The Democrats on the Court always ‘stick together,’ no matter how strong a case is put before them — There is rarely even a minor ‘waver.’ But the Republicans do not do this. 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.”

Reacting to Roberts’s remarks, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told the Daily Mail, “The American people have always valued President Trump’s ability to freely speak his mind and share his thoughts directly with them.”

“It’s one of the many reasons he was resoundingly re-elected. The President will continue speaking with the same candor that the American people love to hear from him,” she went on as reactions on social media decried the chief justice for failing to address those seemingly legislating from the bench while others reminded how nothing came of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) appearing to threaten Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Gorsuch after they “released the whirlwind and … will pay the price” over cases regarding abortion.

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Kevin Haggerty
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