Çhief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday criticized as “inappropriate” and “dangerous” comments that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer made outside the Supreme Court earlier in the day about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Roberts was responding to Schumer’s remarks at a rally outside the court while a high-profile abortion case was being argued inside. “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer said, naming the two appointees of President Donald Trump, according to video of the rally available online.
In a statement, Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman criticized Roberts, saying that “to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said” shows the chief justice “does not just call balls and strikes.”
Goodman said Schumer’s comments “were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.”
He noted that the chief justice remained quiet in recent weeks when Trump questioned the impartiality of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
Trump himself weighed in on Schumer’s comments later Wednesday, tweeting: “If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW!”
There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices. This is what Chuck Schumer just did. He must pay a severe price for this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
Roberts, who in 2018 rebuked Trump for the president’s criticism of an “Obama judge,” had jumped to his colleagues’ defense after Schumer’s remarks. “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” Roberts said in a statement.
The justices are currently weighing a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. A federal judge found that just one of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics would remain open if the law is allowed to take effect.
Roberts is expected to be the deciding vote.
This is a direct & dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme Court by Schumer. If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW! https://t.co/WqQUbyzaJU
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
(AP)
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3 Responses
It was exceedingly Trump-like of Schumer the threaten harm to the justices. Trying to blackmail the Supreme Court with threats of violence is very counter-productive, which Schumer whose entire career has been “inside the beltway”, should realize.
Trump was exercising free speech, far from the premises, in expressing distrust (and perhaps contempt) of the named judges. There was no threat and no incitement of a crowd. Schumer was expressing a clear threat (and incitement of a crowd) against the named judges in near physical proximity to the judges.
Schumer’s speech is also protected by the first amendment. He made no “true threat” of violence, and he did not incite anything. Therefore the law cannot touch him for it. But the senate ought to censure him.
Trump, on the other hand, did nothing like this. He merely pointed out the obvious, that two of the justices have publicly expressed their extreme disdain for him, and therefore their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” in any case involving him. And where this is so the law REQUIRES a justice to disqualify himself.