Jackson, the newest member of the Supreme Court, referred to Trump’s threats directed at judges as “attacks on our democracy.” She did not mention the president directly, though said she was addressing the “elephant in the room.”
“The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity,” she said Thursday. “The attacks are also not isolated incidents. That is, they impact more than just individual judges who are being targeted. Rather, the threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government, and they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Forceful comments like Jackson’s are rare for Supreme Court justices. However, Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts also rebuked Trump in March for seeking the impeachment of a judge who ruled against his administration.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Trump had called U.S. District Judge James Boasberg an unelected “troublemaker and agitator” and a “Radical Left Lunatic” for blocking deportation flights that Trump was carrying out by invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
Jackson encouraged her fellow judges to show “raw courage.”
“I urge you to keep going, keep doing what is right for our country, and I do believe that history will vindicate your service,” the Biden appointee said, receiving a standing ovation.
She had said earlier in the discussion that she decided she would address “the relentless attacks and disregard and disparagement that judges around the country and perhaps many of you are facing on a daily basis.”
“It seems as though every time I read the news or turn on the television these days, I see the affronts,” she added.
The Supreme Court justice lamented that the added pressure can hurt judges. “I do know that loneliness. It is very stressful to have to decide difficult cases in the spotlight and under pressure,” she said. “It can sometimes take raw courage to remain steadfast in doing what the law requires.”
Nevertheless, she urged them to push on and accept that “other judges have faced challenges like the ones we face today, and have prevailed.”
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Jackson this week criticized a majority ruling by the Supreme Court siding with federal health officials in a dispute over how much the government pays hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low-income patients.
“The decision the majority has made in this case will deprive hospitals serving the neediest among us of critical federal funds that Congress plainly attempted to provide,” she wrote. “It is undisputed that systemically undercounting low-income patients for the purposes of the disproportionate-share formula might cause many such hospitals to close their doors entirely, such that patients from our Nation’s poorest communities may not be served at all.”
