According to The Washington Post, Chief Justice John Roberts engaged in an act of courage and heroism yesterday when he stepped down from the bench to rebuke the president. At issue was a ruling on Monday by Judge Jon S. Tigar, an Obama appointee, that effectively blocked the administration’s plan to restrict asylum claims at the southern border as first migrant caravan arrives.
More specifically, Roberts responded to Trump’s initial reaction, which was to rail out at “Obama judges.” On Wednesday, the chief justice released an unprecedented statement reading:
We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.
The Post, CNN, and The New York Times went wild. “It was not the first time Roberts had been asked to comment,” wrote CNN, “but it was the first time he decided to go public.” Elsewhere in the article by CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic, the author quotes, Roberts as having emphasized previously, “I will not criticize the political branches.”
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But criticize the political branches is precisely what he did in his statement Wednesday — and he is dead wrong. Trump said as much in a comeback tweet that took issue with the activist 9th Circuit Court.
Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an “independent judiciary,” but if it is why……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018
Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan made the same point as the president a day earlier, stating:
Everything [Trump] is doing operationally to protect this country is being met with lawsuits. … Some liberal judge in the 9th Circuit is trying to stop this president from protecting our borders.
Indeed the 9th Circuit Court has a long history of legislating from the bench, with rulings invariably favoring far-left policies. In 2016, for example, the court ruled that pro-life groups must promote abortion.
As for the notion that “we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” if that were true why would Democrats in the Senate have worked so hard to oppose Brett Kavanaugh, who typifies the ideals Roberts spoke about in his rebuke of Trump?
