(Washington) muscular rhetoric against judges can exacerbate the physical “threats” towards them, warned the President of the United States Supreme Court this weekend in a context of tensions between the executive and the judiciary.
“If someone expresses strong hostility towards the court (…) the danger is that a person seizes his own ends. However, we have already noticed serious threats of violence and murders against judges, simply because they were doing their job, “said the president of the country’s highest jurisdiction John Roberts.
In a speech on Saturday during a conference in North Carolina, the latter has neither targeted a personality nor a party, but said it noted “deep divisions” and the use of “muscular adjectives” against justice or judges.
“I believe that policies on both sides (of Congress) must keep in mind” the possible effect of their rhetoric, added Mr. Roberts in the aftermath of a controversial decision of the Supreme Court with a majority conservative.
This granted a considerable victory to the Trump administration by limiting the power of the judges to block, at the national level, the decisions of the executive which they consider to be illegal.
By six votes against three, those of the six conservatives against the three progressives, the highest American jurisdiction considered that the decisions of national scope issued by federal judges “probably exceed the powers conferred by the congress in the federal courts”.
As part of multiple clashes between the White House and the Federal Courts, the president and some Republicans called for the dismissal of judges who temporarily suspended Donald Trump’s decisions to reduce public spending or accelerate the expulsions of foreigners.
In a report published last December, before the return to power of Donald Trump, John Roberts was already concerned about the independence of justice, stressing that the criticism of the work of the judges could be healthy in democracy, but that certain statements fell under “intimidation” and “violence”.
“Political leaders have the right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but must be aware that the intemperance of their remarks against the judges can arouse dangerous reactions in others (people),” said the president of the court.
