Donald Trump has had extraordinary success before the United States Supreme Court. In 2024, the Court granted the presidential office substantial immunity from prosecution. Then, examining around twenty emergency ordinances, it provisionally authorized a whole series of initiatives.
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That streak came to an abrupt halt Friday, when Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for six of the Supreme Court’s nine members, rejected Mr. Trump’s tariff plan. It was the Supreme Court’s first substantive decision – a definitive ruling on the legality of an executive action – regarding an element of Trump’s second-term agenda. This judgment is a true declaration of independence.
It is also the result of a clash between the leaders of two branches of the federal government with very different temperaments: the chief justice, measured and cerebral, and the president, caustic and impulsive.
That could make for a tense moment next Tuesday, when the Chief Justice and several of his robed colleagues attend Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address, seated in the front rows, with the president looking on.
On Friday, Mr. Trump perhaps gave a foretaste of the evening, declaring at a press conference that he was “ashamed” of certain judges, presumably of the six who ruled against his position: “They are very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution,” he declared, among other things.
Setting the record straight
A president has already criticized a recent Supreme Court decision during his State of the Union speech: in 2010, Barack Obama castigated it for its decision in the Citizens United case, paving the way for unlimited spending during electoral campaigns. Judging by Justice Roberts’ expression, he had not appreciated this reprimand.
There was also an awkward moment after Mr. Trump’s speech last year, which came shortly after the ruling on presidential immunity. As he left the room, he greeted Justice Roberts, saying, “Thank you again. I won’t forget. »
He appeared to be talking about the ruling, which shielded him from accusations of plotting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. However, Mr. Trump later explained that he thanked Justice Roberts for swearing him in at his inauguration.
PHOTO CHIP SOMODEVILLA, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Donald Trump shakes hands with Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts during the president’s inauguration ceremony at the Capitol in January 2025.
Last month, at the Alfalfa Club’s annual dinner, Mr. Trump attempted humor and said he would not make a “mean joke” about Justice Roberts, who was in attendance. “I’m going to lick her ass for a long time,” he said.
This strategy appears to have failed. In the decision on customs duties, the President of the Supreme Court set the record straight.
He had already done so last March. Hours after Donald Trump called for the impeachment of a judge who had sought to halt the deportation of more than 200 migrants to El Salvador, Justice Roberts issued a rare statement: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement over a judicial decision. »
In 2018, Justice Roberts also defended the independence and integrity of the federal judiciary after Donald Trump referred to a judge who ruled against his administration’s asylum policy as “Judge Obama.”
A profound misunderstanding of the judicial role, Justice Roberts declared: “There are no Obama or Trump judges or Bush or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges who do their best to ensure equal rights to those who appear before them. This judicial independence is something we should all be grateful for. »
Criticisms of Trump
Mr. Trump, for his part, has long criticized the chief justice. After the 2012 decision upholding a key provision of the Obama Affordable Care Act, Mr. Trump insinuated on Twitter that Justice Roberts was motivated by an ambition to “be part of Georgetown society” (a posh neighborhood of Washington’s elite).
During his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump called Judge Roberts “an absolute disaster.”
During his first term, Mr. Trump and his administration did not fare very well before the Supreme Court, winning 42 percent of cases, the lowest rate since at least President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945).
PHOTO RAHMAT GUL, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
The United States Supreme Court in Washington in early February
In other words, a fundamentally conservative Court, with a majority of six Republican-appointed justices, including three appointed by Mr. Trump himself, had not been very receptive to his arguments. The Biden government was successful in 54% of the judgments.
In the tariff decision, two of Mr. Trump’s appointed justices, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, voted with Mr. Roberts.
In late 2024, in a report on the state of the federal judiciary, released shortly before Mr. Trump took office, Justice Roberts appeared to lay the groundwork.
“Attempts to intimidate judges for their decisions are inappropriate and must be vigorously opposed,” he wrote. Officials certainly have the right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they must keep in mind that intemperance in their statements about judges can provoke dangerous reactions in others. »
This article was published in the New York Times.
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