WASHINGTON – U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said Thursday that he was “not random” in an attack by Republican President Donald Trump and his allies on judges, and that it was “designed to threaten the judiciary.”
Secretary John Roberts urged federal judges to fire each in March, rebuking Trump for building naked tensions between the state’s enforcement and the judiciary as a fundamental claim by Trump, who has a judicial obstacle.
“The attacks are not random. They seem to be designed to threaten us serving in this important capacity,” Jackson told a judges meeting in Puerto Rico.
A federal judge said the Trump administration failed to comply with court orders regarding foreign aid, federal spending and firing government workers. The administration opposed the judges, but was critical of the orders and judges that blocked their actions.
“Threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, our system of government, and they risk ultimately undermining our constitution and the rule of law,” Jackson said.
Jackson, a former Democrat president Joe Biden appointee, did not mention Trump by name, but spoke about the “elephant in the room.”
Her comments were quoted in media reports from Politico and The New York Times, with Politico saying her comments received a standing ovation.
The militant atmosphere under the Trump administration raised concerns among legal experts in some of the potential constitutional crisis.
The Supreme Court has a conservative majority of 6-3.
