The “wise Latina” has no business being on the Supreme Court in the first place. I remember her from her days on the bench in District Court in New York. She was radical and outspoken then too. Ginsberg is fine.
4
Recuse will never happen on any case, any of them hear. Being Honorable Judges was dead and buried a long time ago.
Everyone knows the Courts are stacked today and have been for a very long time. They have erred in being Righteous Judges ruling preferably on how they feel on a given day. God help anyone who stands before one of these who's Spouse was caught with someone else or they had a fight before leaving for the Courthouse.
If you don't believe this I suggest if your a man divorce your wife then let us know how that when for you. The Judges will rake you over the coals every time leaving you with only the shirt on your back.
The Supreme's are no different and that's a huge issue, I call it Corrupt.
1
Supreme Court is made of politicians ultra-specializing in law.
Its role is ridiculously inflated today and the way it works / how justices are chosen should be drastically changed so that we do not care any more whether a justice is a 'liberal' or not, since they all judge according to their political views, supremely intelligently and authoritatively worded.
As far as this case, DT certainly has a point but so he made a killing by selecting his people there so his bullying is, first, stupid, and second, should be totally ignored.
1
The fact that a sitting President even mentions by name a Supreme Court Justice is unconscionable.
OK Dems, new slogan. Anyone but Bernie!
1
The Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from any and all cases - to ensure an absolutely neutral tribunal.
Since the justices had been lawyers before ascending to the bench and since those appearing before them in court are lawyers - this would taint the decisions made by the Court, as being former members of the same profession representing parties before the Court.
Supreme Court justices accordingly belong to a "class" of people who often have little or no class - many lawyers go into politics, where having little or no class (but being able to project the illusion of it) is often a prerequisite for getting ahead.
6
Or the court should be replaced by a Republican panel of conservative politicians. Oh wait, it already has been.
4
I think Justice Thomas should recuse himself from all cases until such time as his wife stops lobbying the government to support her personal causes.
3554
@Long Islander - beat me to it.
107
@Long Islander Correct - no Supreme Court Justice’s spouse or partner should be in the political arena, period. For a Justice, appearance of influence or of a preconceived position can be as bad as an actual fact and should be avoided. And judges and Justices should avoid sharing their personal opinions.
When a reasonable person makes a mistake - Justice Ginsburg, e.g., she admitted it and committed to correcting her behavior. Others, like Justice Thomas or even President Trump, do the opposite.
192
@Long Islander I think he should be forced to prove he is alive before the beginning of each session.
110
The five Catholic justices who are Republicans should recuse themselves in all cases involving the Catholic Church.
28
And all male justices recuse themselves in all cases involving abortion.
5
Never before have we seen a man given so much and yet convinced he has been treated so unfairly his whole life. Mommy really should have hugged her unlovable baby a few times and saved us this sickening display.
930
@Baldwin
The only thing more sickening is the enormous effort put out to prop up this thing up in the White House.
This. Thing. Propped up.
America has what it deserves if this cannot be voted out.
National IQ test coming in November.
72
This is a two way street, something lost in our increasing polarization and breakdown of civil discourse that news coverage like this feeds into, delighting the Russians, Chinese, and other malign rival nations. These sorts of stories (Trump is lawless! He must be stopped!) are more effective at driving us apart than any clumsily-done Facebook page or post. A stunning number of Trump initiatives have not only been struck down by federal district court judges, but also subject to sweeping national injunctions of unparalleled scope and frequency. An equally stunning, disproportionate percentage of these decisions come from Obama or Clinton nominated judges, almost 100%, though not quite. A highly unlikely coincidence that cannot be smugly dismissed as owing to Trump being wrong about everything all the time. His tweets and other impromptu outbursts are plainly born of his exasperation about what he sees as this targeted judicial activism. Regardless of the merits in each individual case, for a president to lash out under such frustrating circumstances does not necessarily suggest depravity or lawlessness.
99
@Beantownah Don't worry. McConnell has made sure that any and all judges for the next generation are recommended by the Federalist Society. Happy?
380
Remember the indignation of the Right when Obama addressed members of the SC at the SOTU?
Where is that bombastic indignation now?
(Always love to play “what if Obama had done it”—a great way to illuminate the faux anger of the Right).
512
@Beantownah Trump's minute by minute tweets on cases before the courts are tearing apart our faith in our justice system and giving him far too much influence on another branch of government.
As for Trump's frustration, he must be in a perpetual stir as he blasts anyone and everyone who is the victim of the moment.
246
Trump’s opinions on the law or courts seem to indicate that he never took a civics course in his life. This should disqualify him from being president.
6
Again and again the response of Trump voters is "no worries; my 401(k) is doing great." We are doomed unless the long-overdue deficit-bloated crash occurs before November. It's high time for Trump to demand that the Coronavirus be "locked up" because people are saying it's so unfair.
3
Trump had no such problem with Senators who declared that they would not vote the impeachment facts.
3
No surprise here.
The would be dictator is attacking anyone or anything that may have power other him except Putin of course.
The only surprise is how apathetic the republican public figures are in face of such dangerous precedents. The pardons, the firing of critics and now the call for supreme court judge to not do their job ! WOW.
2
The only bias of the legal system against Trump is the existence of the legal system. Sociopaths like Trump regard any restraint--norm or law--as an intolerable abuse against their aggressive autonomy. Unfortunately, there is no known cure--medicinal or therapeutic--for sociopathy.
An immediate concern: if Trump loses the 2020 election in the ordinary way--due allowance made for the usual handful of irregularities and illegalities--, he would insist that the election was stolen, he was the winner, and he would refuse to leave office. Congressional Republicans would then have to act to complete what has been their incremental coup against constitutional democracy and rely on the male Catholic conservatives on the Supreme Court to exercise their religiously inculcated hierarchical instruction and politically conservative impulses to sustain the demolition of the Constitution.
1
Trump, as usual, is paying more attention to the voices in his head and the voices on Fox News than on actual reality.
3
President Trump continues has campaign to destroy the Constitution and democracy in the US .
1
Stop the Tweets! He is slowly and surely taking over the 3 branches of government. Obvious signs of a dictator. Our only hope in November VOTE BLUE!
3
Trump's fascism is a greater danger than the coronavirus as he consistently undermines the "rule of law!"
2
America has a moral disaster in the role of president. This peurile trashing of responsible Justices is petty and miles beneath the dignity of the office this over-aged Boy King holds. In other words, just another day in Trump World: when you think he can't sink lower, he does.
1
He’s crazy. Like they would recuse themselves because he wants them to. Get real!
1
Trump is a very sick man - he keeps displaying this again and again. What is it about our culture, our system and US people, especially today’s Republicans, that allows this to continue ? It’s beyond my comprehension.
2
This president is as close as this country has ever come to a dictatorship. Now he tell the Supreme Court what to do???
Unbelievable!
And if those spineless people cowtowing to him don’t stop him , HE WILL DO JUST THAT!
1
Sotomayor do your job! You are a member of 1/3 of the government. The Courts. When one of the other 2/3ds (The Executive) needs your help, you help them.
The Executive court cases should take precedent. Hear them, reach a conclusion, and move on to more. That is your job!
Where does Trump say that he "DEMANDS" they recuse themselves? This is just another editorial passing itself off as a news article.
1
The New Yorker's Andy Borowitz wrote in response, "... Ginsburg has demanded that Donald Trump recuse himself from all decisions involving the future of the U.S."
Borowitz's satire makes a lot more sense than Trump's whole presidency.
4
The very fabric of American government is being torn to shreds before our eyes and we seem powerless to stop it. Stir in the Democratic debate chaos and CDC warning about the potential of the coronavirus to wreak havoc on our daily lives and social structures it's hard not to feel like we are spiralling into the abyss with only a prayer for some sort of deliverance. The bugle has sounded. We simply must find the will and way to face up to the challenge of this moment for America and the world.
Fortunately, whatever he says, Trump can’t force any justices to recuse themselves. Once again, he is playing to his base.
1
According to Trump’s logic, every judge he nominated or appointed should recuse himself or herself from every case involving or related to Mr. Trump, his administration, his businesses, and his family, friends, and campaign workers.
Goose meet gander
1
I really hope this comes back to bite Trump. Hopefully Justice Ginsberg will be around to part of the rejection of the appeal of his criminal conviction to the SCOTUS.
Dictator.
It’s that simple.
VOTE in November, while you (we) still can!
.
2
What is the response of the seven other SC judges? All males...
1
Justice Kagan is a woman.
3
@Fair’s Fair You're right! Oh gee, sorry...
Still, don't you wonder what is the response of the other judges?
Don..got news for you. You may appoint them, the Senate confirms them, and then you live with the decisions. Tough luck. Read the US Constitution.
2
How about recusing the sexual harasser and the sexual assaulter on SCOTUS from any cases involving women's rights?
4
Once a dictator takes down the judiciary the end of any semblance of freedom is near. Trump sees an independent Supreme Court as an obstacle to his total control of the US as our new king.
The choice is so clear - embrace Trump and kiss your freedom goodbye or evict him and try to repair the damage already done. I fear the US will fail this test later this year and voluntarily marching into subjugation. A country that can't protect its freedoms will inevitably lose them, just as we are today.
1
If anyone else had attacked a judge the way Trump has in defending his pal, Roger Stone, they would've been hit with contempt of court. Trump really has no clue and someone needs to read him the constitution, ASAP!
2
1. Bullying demands are meaningless if you ignore them. Neither Justice will be impeached. The demands may be ignored for what they are: puffery and bullying.
2. But demands are meaningful and dangerous insofar as they subvert public acceptance of the judicial function.
3. The words of Justce Scalia from 2012 bear repeating:
"...some people in recent months have criticized the court as being a politicized court because all the Republican appointees vote one way and all the Democratic appointees vote the other way. That didn’t use to be the case when John Paul Stevens and David Souter—both Republican appointees—were on the court. They usually voted with the so-called liberal wing of the court. So you couldn’t divide it up politically as neatly as you could now, but now you probably can. But it really enrages me to hear people refer to it as a politicized court. Neither I, nor any one of my colleagues, votes a certain way because he or she likes this president or is a member of the party that that president belongs to. I couldn’t care less who the president is. They vote that way because that’s who they are. They were selected because of who they are."
1
So Gorsuch and Kavanaugh who owe their positions to Trump should recuse themselves too?
As usual Trump wants it both ways just as before the 2016 election he said it was rigged but only if he lost. If he were to win then the election would not have been rigged. He said preposterously that he would accept the results but only if he were to win.
He has all the characteristics of a toddler; a toddler who says the new virus is totally under control. Except of course if it is not.
He is botching the health crisis as he botches everything; like botching the pronunciation of Tendulkar's and Kohli's names. They are ugly culturally important in India. He might take advice but of course he knows best about everything. Nobody knows more about pandemics or cricket than Trump.
The new virus is the real crisis we were fearing Trump might have to cope with. Anybody confident?
3
Trump does not get to use the word "inappropriate" to describe others without contributing massively to the foundation for the care of severe eye-roll injury victims.
1
What's Trump afraid of anyway. They won't have any witnesses or evidence I'm sure.
1
Politics stops at waters' edge. All U.S. presidents have followed this principle. By throwing this principle to the wind President Trump has once again disgraced the august office he holds.
Who can forget his spectacular performance in Helsinki, in 2018? Standing next to President Putin, he discarded the U.S, intelligence agencies' unanimous findings on the dirty things the Russians did to help him win the 2016 election and embraced Putin's denial of them. The same agencies have once aging concluded that the Russians are back at their dirty game again, this time to help Trump get reelected in 2020.
Maybe because Putin hasn't yet denied them, Trump hasn't discarded the findings as yet. But he is so annoyed that the findings have been leaked to the press. And he suspects, without any evidence, that it was Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee that impeached him, who did. Ever since his impeachment, Trump has been railing at him. But that he continued it while on a foreign soil is beneath the office he holds, and has appalled even some Republicans.
Apart from his political adversary, he has also questioned while abroad, the integrity of two Supreme Court justices, because they to be ones appointed by Democratic presidents and they did or said things which are against his administration's policies. This once again proves that Chief Justice John Roberts's admonition against him, in 2018, has had no effect on him. Trump is incorrigible.
2
When it comes to judges, we need to have them behave in a manner that raises not even the slightest inference of partiality. We do not want them to have personal opinions about the matters before them, we want them to judge those matters fairly within the scope of the law, whether or not they agree with the wisdom of that law.
When it comes to politicians, we expect them to have personal opinions about matters of current concern or interest. We want to know what is motivating their decision making process.
These are two widely differing standards of behavior. This article clearly misses that distinction. That renders it is just another "I hate Trump and everything he does is wrong" article. Of course, the NYT is entitled to its opinion, but this is presented as a "news" report, not an editorial. It is not news. It is a highly opinionated point of view.
Devin nunes in the house Intelligence Committee was personally involved in travel to Europe to dig up dirt on Biden. YET he did not recuse himself from the impeachment hearings.
From John Bolton’s memoirs we found out that WH lawyer Cipollone was directly involved with Ukraine cover up, YET he did not recuse himself from impeachment hearings.
What is Trump talking about when he demands recuse this and that!
1
God god forbid but if I have to be a defendant in the court, I get to chose my own judges.
1
And jury too.
And threaten witnesses if you feel the urge.
1
Trump's choosing to air his personal domestic grievances overseas flies in the face of one of the most fundamental agreements among Americans who operate in the international arena.
Domestic politics stop at the water's edge.
Donald Trump is destroying the American "brand" for a generation with his brain-dead histrionics. It seems that he really does believe that the only things real in the world at any given moment are those things that affect him personally.
The GOP must be driven into the ground and the grave salted.
1
Unfortunately,Trump’s habit of tweeting to put pressure on people has worked many times. While he can not fire Supreme Court justices, he has the ability to make things miserable for them and sway public opinion in his untruths.
1
Interesting how much Miler’s influence is felt as it’s his immigration policy that his puppet is in turn defending while meeting with another country’s representative that also loves to use policy to eliminate freedoms for swaths of people based on preferences.
Great. Could we ask Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to recuse themselves from any case related to the next Democratic president? After all, one is sitting on a stolen seat and the other shouldn't even be there.
1
RBG and Sonia Sotomayor should just ignore Donnie. Responding is beneath their dignity.
The rest of us need to tell him to go pound sand.
Send him a message he cannot ignore.
Vote him out of office on November 3, 2020, along with all of his Republican enablers.
2
Yes, I know about Godwin's Law, but I have never called people like Reagan or Bush a "fascist". In general, I am annoyed by the way some leftists bandy that word around to mean anyone less woke than they are. But Trump's ongoing attacks on justice, honest law enforcement, democracy, and any opposition to his personal desires, are unprecedented, and obviously amount to a frightening attempt to impose a truly fascist state.
2
Here's a thought: why doesn't Trump resign?
2
Criminals don’t resign.
Is anything ever normal with him? The paranoia and lies never end. He has no shame, no guilt, no sense of loyalty to this great country. I am so ashamed of him. He is a constant source of embarressment to all of us.
2
Why bother with a judiciary?
In a modern republic where sovereignty lies with "we the people", the people needs a government with institutional checks and balances to safeguard said sovereignty. Dissenting opinions occur quite often, every day, 365 days a year.
#45 wants those with dissenting opinions to recuse themselves b/c they disagree with him? This is the hallmark of an authoritarian state. But then again, he has all the Republicans behind him.
So again my question: why bother with a judiciary? Dispense with it and #45 can be the judge, jury and executioner via tweets.
USA, the new banana republic! Sic transit gloria mundi indeed.
1
The impeached one should recuse himself from the human race. People with “real” souls don’t behave in such a soulless manner.
1
This should be at the top of the page. This is beyond reprehensible.
2
someone is getting worried about his tax returns becoming public....
2
Donald Trump has created a timeline of his erratic behavior, especially continuous rants against people who he believes are against him. The tally of those he feels are against him is already sizeable.
1
Sure. Have Ginsburg and Sotomayer recuse themselves, and Trump's two stooges because they are biased for him, and then all the other Republican-appointed judges, along with anyone else who might be influenced to see the world in a certain way. That way, the court will have no justices and will be unable to rule on any cases involving Trump. Then he can suspend Congress -- what does it do, anyway, that Trump can't do better_ and he can rule the only way he really understands -- as a dictator. That's really what his base wants. All that messy democracy stuff really gets in the way of good governance, especially if you are in the minority.
1
Once again, this time in India on a supposed foreign policy visit, Donald Trump has made a naked attempt to intimidate the U.S. Supreme Court into ruling on his behalf.
Because of Trump’s penchant for bypassing the Circuit Courts of Appeals and running directly to the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a stinging dissent, and Trump had the hypocrisy and gall to claim she is biased against him and should be forced to recuse herself from any case involving him. He lambasted Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the same time.
Would that Chief Justice John Roberts have the courage and judicial integrity to issue an Order, saying Donald Trump is way out of line and imposing some sort of sanctions.
3
By using Trump’s way of thinking Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, being Trump appointees, should also recuse themselves from cases involving him.
3
I believe there is more afoot here, something far more fundamental and worrisome, than just Trump attacking judges for personal gain, although there is that as well. It seems to me he is repeatedly holding up a mirror to social institutions that purport to be objective and they do not like what they see. There is no special form of cognition called "legal reasoning" that allows judges to rise above personal bias. There is no special form of engaging the world called "journalistic investigation" that allows writers to separate out personal and institutional perspectives from reporting. Each profession engages in a language that does its work by covering its tracks and giving the appearance that what is written was found in the world, discovered not created, as the inevitable product of a process taught in professional schools. Trump calls this enterprise into question for his own personal reasons, but the fundamental issue extends beyond his presidency.
1
Still no concept of the system of checks and balances that most of us learned as kids. None.
I cannot be amazed, gobsmacked, or appalled anymore.
It is all happening in my real time.
May we live in interesting times, and may they all must pass.
1
Absolutely abhorrent behavior from a President.
What will happen?
Nothing!
Except that Congressional Republicans will bury their heads in the sand and cover for the President while he riles up the base with lies and attacks on democratic institutions.
Maybe Bill Barr will then issue some hollow, choreographed statement about the importance of an independent judiciary and equal justice under law.
Republican Senators must be proud of their reinvigorated leader.
2
The justices, like the rest of us, should simply ignore Trump.
I could have gone all week without hearing about his pointless bleating. Nothing he says it's relevant to any objective reality. I suggest the media simply cut him out when he drops another nonsense screed.
2
Don't Sotomayor and Ginsburg have the same type of free speech as Trump. Trump can opine on Stone; why can't these two jurors opine on Trump? They can act as citizens one day and supreme court justices the next. All should keep quiet is the norm, but if Trump breaks the norm, does the other side unilaterally disarm?
Now if Trump while opining on Stone, has Barr arrest Jackson (the judge in the case), then that would be another story. Or if the president makes Jackson feel obligated to get the hint and free Stone and any other offenders Trump is friends with -- is that so bad. He is the King afterall.
4
Certainly justices have the right to express themselves, though they generally do not do so publicly for fear of appearing biased. I love Ginsburg, but she should have kept her mouth shut on that occasion. Thankfully, she had the self control and integrity to apologize. And of course, other justices have cracked from time to time (remember Alito?) to let their true feelings show, however briefly.
But it needs to be pointed out again and again that Sotomayor’s opinion was issued as part of HER JOB!
Like the justices, the president should restrain himself from these dishonest and dangerous attacks, recognizing that his words carry a Constitutional weight that others do not. It is part of the job. Trump should not be making such threats against a sitting justice doing her job simply because he disagrees.
In my opinion, this behavior, which is not isolated, merits serious consideration of a new impeachment on the grounds that he is unfit to hold the office. But I know that won’t happen.
Wake up, America. Vote him out!
2
Reporting in this article Mr Trump's assault on the court system as if he made some rational criticism is a fault. He did not read the dissent that is the source of the comment. He repeats what he hears on a deeply biased TV show. His personal attacks on the court system and Congress people he disagrees with are shocking and terribly dangerous as he continues to erode respect for the institutions and norms of this government. He speaks from ignorance. He does not understand nor care about how competent ethical systems work. He has no foundation in American values. Please stop presenting his behavior as a normal course of doing the nation's business.
16
Courts are generally biased against criminals. Therefore all courts need to recuse themselves from any and all trials of Trump and his friends.
9
This president seems determined to use his office to interfere with the courts.
He doesn't accept that when the Founders set up three co-equal branches of government, it was to prevent them from the types of internal fights that Trump is keen to provoke.
I wish the Democratic candidates would stop gaming with each other for rhetorical superiority, and instead try to demonstrate to voters why the separation of powers is essential to the rule of law, and to the very existence of democracy itself.
It would be helpful if the media would stop reducing debates to a reality show with contestants, and return it to the actual reality of the election.
7
Seems perfectly reasonable. I assume Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh will similarly be recusing themselves from any cases directly impacting the rights of women, correct?
17
It is time for the Supreme Court in a unified fashion to lay down the law to Donald Trump. It is time for the Court, in an opinion led by the Chief Justice, to remind our authoritarian president that no one is above the law. I hope they find a vehicle soon to deliver a clear message about the importance of maintaining respect for the rule of law and the separation of powers. His attacks on the federal judiciary must end. If the White House Counsel and Attorney General William Barr are too wimpy to set him straight-- and to resign-- when he publicly flouts their advice, the Court must make it clear that his obscene, anti-democratic behavior must end.
7
This is not the first time nor the last time the Courts have
been attacked by a President, Congress, Governors or Lawmakers in general.
After all Jefferson and Marshall had their public differences,
Jackson ignored the Supreme Court over the removal of
the Cherokees and other Tribes to what is now Oklahoma,
Lincoln refused to enforce Habeas Corpus...
The mistake has been that the Supreme Court has been
politicized to an extent never imagined by the Founders.
If you can get the Legislature to pass the laws/regulations
you want, turn to the Federal Courts, shop around for a
friendly judge and get an injection or a sweeping ruling
about the Constitutionality of some action or non-action
by the Executive branch and then hope that the Supreme
Court rules in you favor. Roe vs Wade and the ruling on
Same Gender Marriages are prime examples of where the
laws were changing in the States but the Supreme Court
via overreaching with the 14th Amendment and its self-created
Right to Privacy ignored the 9th and 10th Amendments.
Whatever Trump has said is not as bad as what Justice
Ginsburg said about Trump before he was elected.
Trump would be wise to let others make his point and the
Justices need to stay out of politics and tell those plaintiffs
who seek to use the Courts as Lawmakers that is what the
Legislatures are for.
2
Does Mr. Trump understand that the executive branch does NOT control the other 2 co-equal branches of government?
Our country is not the corrupt Trump organization.
29
I think Kavanaugh should recuse himself form all cases involving Trump or his initiatives because he owes him so VERY much.
39
That’s rich. A President who intentionally picks conservative Judges to pack the Supreme Court, wants two of the few remaining liberal ones to recuse themselves because he doesn’t like what they say. Thin-skinned, or what?
The SCC has bent over backwards to help Trump hide his tax returns, and he still attacks the Court. He argues everything, yields nothing, and abuses the court system repeatedly. He is shredding American democracy and its Constitution. So alarming to see a great Republic getting its first Caligula. The decline and fall of the Republic may not be far off unless the demagogue is defeated by a sizable majority of Americans who finally come to their senses. Given either the greed, ignorance, or hypocrisy of the three sectors that seem to make up the majority of Trump’s supporters, I am not hopeful of the outcome. And Bernie Sanders is not the cure for this Presidential virus either. He will govern from the left, with the same divisiveness as Trump’s governing from the right, albeit with actual intelligence, maturity, and confidence, unlike Trump . Nevertheless, If Bernie wins, which I think is unlikely, friction and divisions will increase, not decrease. I think Schiff would make an absolutely great President, but, sadly he is not running. Maybe next time?
19
What about Kavanaugh and Gorsuch? Shouldn't they recuse themselves? They owe their seats on SCOTUS to Trump and everyone knows he demands absolute loyalty. They are even more biased than Sotomayor and RBG could ever dream of being. They are more likely to side with Trump automatically because he probably would never have nominated them unless they first swore fierce loyalty to him. Does anyone remotely believe Trump would let anyone near a SCOTUS seat without first guaranteeing that K and G had a permanent residence deep in Trump's pockets?
24
I think judges and justices should be appointed in a less political way. Even though my views strongly correlate with those of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, I do think that we need to find a way to select judges that is based less on promises to deliver in the culture war and more on judicial abilities (including temperament and impartiality). The most recent appointment has shown that the Senate cannot handle this responsibility.
12
I think Mr. Trump should recuse himself for any decisions that affect me and a lot of people who think like me. He certainly is biased against at least half of the population.
34
@John V clearly president trump does not think America as one country, he thinks he is the president of only that part of the country that votes for him.
3
Did everyone in the Republican party skip their high school civics classes? It is beyond astonishing that 40% of American adults are supportive of Trump's fascist takeover of our former republic.
28
@rab Trump thrives in an atmosphere of ignorance and lies. Accurate information is his greatest enemy.
1
Now he’s trying to politicize and beat down the courts they way he did Mitch, Lindsey and the his Congressmen henchmen. Soon there will be only one branch of government, Trump’s, and the other just bullied into submission, just like in Putin’s Russia where their Congress, the Duma, and their judges answer to him.
11
Trump should recuse himself from being president.
30
To keep it “fair” the two justices that Trump appointed should not be allowed to vote on any of his cases because they are “obviously “ prejudiced in his favor.
Trump just doesn’t like losing, he hates it. Too bad!
12
Well it's the next best thing to demanding the electoral majority recuse itself from voting against him because it might jeopardize his chances of eking out the slimmest of electoral college majorities. What he probably deserves is a democratic majority in the House and Senate. It would drive him mad.
Well. Madder.
8
It's very hard to blame RBG or Sonia Sotomayor for comments that might upset Trump. Most of the population thinks Trump is unfit, and have said or thought far worse.
That the SCOTUS majority too often backs Trump speaks more to their biased judgement. In turn, this is a stronger argument for the conservatives to be the ones recused from Trump related cases.
8
SCOTUS lost all its credibility when the Republican majority, that preached state’s right, didn’t want Florida to count vote. I rest my case.
18
This is what dictatorship looks like. Remember remember the 3rd of November...vote Blue no matter who!
18
Just another day in the Twilight Zone!
5
Recuse yourself, mr president.
9
Hey, all you exonerating Republican senators who said Trump would mend his ways after a near-brush with ouster: How is he doing these days? Is this behaviour toward America's vaunted independent judiciary what you expected? No? Funny, it's exactly what the rest of us expected...
26
I would hope Trump- appointed justices would recuse themselves from cases involving Trump before other justices do. I cannot imagine anyone more biased than they would be.
25
In 2018 a federal district court judge was the object of Trump’s wrath; it was not a Supreme Court justice.
1
How about instead Trump recuse himself from playing "President". His attacks on the Supreme Court make him unfit for the job of President.
23
Trump is an evil influence on this country and needs to be forced out. He is ruining America.
21
@GB And the world. It's looking like Orwell was slightly early with 1984 date. I woke up with a jolt this morning and an epiphany. With digital world dominance I can see humankind dominated by powerbroker in two or three blocs as in 1984. Trump/Putin perhaps in one bloc, China in another bloc and maybe a third bloc with a name like Oceana. Power seems to be getting concentrated into the hands of very few who have everybody's data in the manner of Big Brother. Can anybody see any outcome other than a dystopia resulting from the stable genius of Donald John Trump.
4
If this attempt to directly use his power to influence the workings of the judicial branch does not constitute a high crime and misdemeanor, I don't what else short of out and out treason would (and I don't think he's smart enough to actually knowingly do such).
But impeach him!!!!
15
This deserves impeachment!
Do a better job!
16
If a Justice has taken a stand on releasing tax returns not required by law before a trial is announced, that Justice must recuse themselves on the matter before the Court. If not, a Justices opinion before a legal argument cannot be deemed fair, or unbiased. Ginsburg has openly stated that her opinion on a legally allowed position is opposed to her biased opinion. If she recuses in the tradition, based on a perceived appearance of prejudice, it would acknowledge her inappropriate statements and beliefs outside our laws. If not, she has abandoned any honor in judging a case based on the rule of law. Sotomayor’s statement is in bounds, only because The Supremes have failed to rule a single judge, out of over a thousand have the authority to halt an Executive Branches constitutional authority. Hopefully, that will be addressed by The Court. For now, Ginsburg should recuse on Trumps tax issue, and Sotomayor should be silent on a single judges right to rule over an Executive Branch’s right to execute rules enacted for the safety of all Americans.
I am relieved that Right Honorable Justice John Glover Roberts, Jr. spoke out in order to protect the his Court and fellow justices from the proudly overt fascistic attack on the American form of justice.
Oh...wait....he didn't say a thing? So much for promoting the Roberts brand and legacy. Oh well.
16
Trump is a self-serving and dishonest person. He likes to create outrage and spectacle because he enjoys the attention. He uses Twitter and the media to distract people from his criminal actions, his collusion, and his corruption. As a leader, he is a huge failure.
12
I see this as a positive. Trump thinks he is infallible. To that end he will continue to overshoot the runway until he figuratively hangs himself. So, let him run, give him plenty of rope.
7
Early in this piece you state that Roberts admonished Trump when he spoke critically of a Supreme Court justice several years ago. It was not a Supreme Court justice but rather a federal district judge that was the target of Trump’s comments.
2
Sure thing. Right after Garland replaces Gorsuch and Kavanaugh steps down.
16
trump apparently believes that only his supporters should serve on juries or as judges..
13
@Susan Wladaver-Morgan
Correct. He is outing by name with the help of State TV who the naughty jurors were in the Roger Stone case. Is there any political atrocity that DJT will not gleefully embrace?
Could anything be more deplorable than a president meddling in a court case, to help a crony?
7
" A group of federal judges convened an emergency conference call because of the attacks on Judge Jackson."
... and as soon as Trump mentioned them in one of his "tweets", they postponed the meeting. What are they afraid of?
8
This comment is coming from someone who has long admired Ginzberg and who is as opposed to Trump as anyone else in this reliably blue state.
Trump's attack on Sotomayor is totally wrong -- nothing a judge says, in writing an opinion or in making a decision, can be used to challenge the judge's impartiality.
Ginzberg's remarks before the 2016 election are different. They were ill-advised at the time, and they remain so now, notwithstanding the New York Times' obvious effort to downplay them ("four years ago"). The Justice had no business making those remarks -- what could she possibly have hoped to achieve? To sway some voters? Could she not foresee how this would play out, if Trump were elected? It appears to this commentator that she spoke in order to give vent to her personal opinion. But Madame Justice, you gained much prestige and power by going on the Court, and in return, you gave up, or should have given up, First Amendment rights that, as a regular citizen, you had before going on the Court.
2
Maybe they could be replaced by Rudy Giuliani and William Barr.
Trump can get rid of Supreme Court Justices, can't he?
Or maybe Mitch can do it for him.
And Trump could also have the juries for any Trump-related cases be made up of his Administration - or the GOP Senate. Or Jay Sekulow. Or Lindsey and Mitch, Nunes and Gaetz, Jordan and Meadows, Cotton and Kennedy. Pompeo and Stephanie Grisham.
Kushner and KellyAnne. THOSE are real jurors.
5
People who dwell in stone houses shouldn't throw glass....
By Trump's dim & twisted logic, four of the five conservative Justices, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, should also be forced to recuse themselves from any cases involving Trump, due to past and present presentations and associations with highly partisan (Republican and Conservative) think-tanks, organizations, associations, affiliations, as well as by their words and deeds.
Justice Thomas's wife, Ginny, is a major partisan actor who has been recently active with the Trump administration and Republican party "purity" tests.
So, any Republican & Conservative thinking along these lines had better be prepared for myriad assaults in pushback. What's sauce for the goose will also be sauce for the gander.
And that's no propaganda (proper gander), courtesy of James Thurber.
15
Would he recuse himself from running the country because of his bias
13
FAkeDonald believes that US is a privately held corporation and he is the CEO and there should be nothing that challenges his actions; courts are unnecessary except as a decoration. It is just a nuisance, and waste of time and money.
9
I think Trump should recuse himself and his hand-picked cabal from government. They are not good for children and other living things.
16
This is absurd. How about we also recuse judges that are biased in his favor?
13
The common denominator in all the lies, fraud, criminal activity, witness tampering, intimidation towards members of Congress and our military deemed "not sufficiently loyal" to the whims of Donald Trump is Donald Trump.
It will be far more efficient to dump the problem man in the Oval Office. He doesn't understand our democracy, its institutions, or American Law.
14
No surprise here; he's continuing his life-long MO of attacking legally or illegally any person(s) or institution that threatens his preeminence. So, for example, election integrity and voting rights threatens his re-election: he unrelentingly attacks all sources that confirm the threat and want to counter the threat and ardently favors all forms of voter suppression
Corona virus: he's engaged in the same manner as his hurricane prediction and threats to NOAA, making a rosy corona virus prediction having already gutted CDC. Necessary international cooperation is contrary to his mindset. He undermines it at every turn.
9
As of now President Trump is not King Trump. He might detest Ginsberg and Sotomayor but he can't remove them from their seats. I would suggest to him that if he doesn't like what they are saying he can ignore it or change what he's doing. He is not the first president to dislike what the Supreme Court or some of the justices on the court have said or written. What Trump really needs to do is get over himself but he won't.
9
The impeachment "trial" showed that Trump controls the Senate. With Bill Barr's help, he has corrupted the workings of the Dept. of Justice. Now it's time to see what he can do to intimidate federal judges. Any pretext, no matter how contrived, will do. As always, he seeks to delegitimize any power not under his control. Judges are bound by rules of conduct that, to a certain extent, limit what they may say in public. Appeals judges usually avoid commenting on controversies in lower courts which may end up before them on appeal. They cannot comment outside of their courtrooms on their own cases, or comment on cases pending before other judges. They are not supposed to take part in political campaigns. How hard that must be, to overcome their gag reflex when contemplating the sorry excuse for a human being who is our president, and his inhumane, disastrous policies.
8
RIP United States of America
14
We have a president who seeks absolute power, unfettered by judicial or legislative branches, unconcerned with common decency, much less the our laws.
Will my heirs face job loss, demotion or even arrest if they report unpalatable truths?
I fear they already do.
6
@M Davis
Yes. Lord Acton said "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
But in this case, Trump has corrupted power.
He has turned it around. He taints everything. I thought the sport I love, cricket could never be tainted by Trump because cricket is so not America.
But alas he has tainted cricket too. If he ever tried to push Virat Kohli around he might get a shock.
1
Hey Mitch, how long you going to let this horror show play out before you do the right thing and ask this guy if he has any decency left in his body at all? Or are you just going to let our country go down the tubes?
16
If any justice should recuse, it is Clarence Thomas, whose wife, Ginnie, heads an organization that created a target list of “Never Trump” officials to be fired.
19
Trump should recuse himself from the presidency.
15
Well, the two judges mouthed off, so what should they expect? Unfortunately, democrats feel they can say whatever they want, but conservatives cannot. Conservatives can't have a litmus test on something like Roe v. Wade, but democrats can. Weird, huh?
2
Conservatives have been saying whatever they want for decades and they are given medals of freedom because as the award giver says “they let you do it”.
18
I was not aware that a dissenting opinion is “mouthing off.” Is that truly what you believe?
4
@DJOHN
When Trump "mouths off", what should he expect? Whatever it is, he sure has a lot of it coming.
Each and every justice is biased. There are liberal justices and conservative ones. Their voting records show where each one is. Trying to say that the Supreme Court isn't full of bias would be ignorant.
5
People are still unwilling to take the streets and have massive protests against putin’s comrades in the WH. Americans are watching how trump and his minions are consistently destroying our values, institutions, and democracy...but just wringing their hands hoping something or someone will save the country, save the day. But NO, the cavalry is not coming. We must fight to save this country.
8
How dare he! Fox News has picked up on this as well, and has unleashed the idiot mob who never took Junior High School civics, and believe that whatever their emperor decrees should automatically come to pass. This is beyond outrageous, but then Trump exceeds outrage every day.
18
Who beyond Stephen Miller are the likely voices behind the throne who have suggested this option to DJT?
4
Just the usual right, Trump et al. accusing the left of doing what they are doing. This is Trump running scared.
4
The damage this statement has done to our system is irreversible. No trust ever again in the balance of powers or in the justice of our system. Republicans, you are ok with this?
6
At first I called his presidency a circus sideshow but it’s not. It’s worse. So far it’s successfully executed plan to dismantle America as it was founded. Along with trump every single trump supporting senator and congressperson needs to be voted.
16
A highly amusing suggestion from the 24-hour lying channel.
11
Always after a defeat and a respite," says Gandalf, "the shadow takes another shape and grows again.”
8
I keep thinking, he's gotten through the impeachment and actually improved his standing among voters. He must truly feel invincible now. Hubris! What comes after Hubris? Nemesis, right? Still waiting.
4
President Trump needs to keep himself in the news with one outrageous statement after another. I think this country will be better off when we stop reacting to his trolling. Our good judges know when to recuse themselves; Trump does not. Vote him out, please.
19
Trump is a dangerous demagogue. Resist and vote him and his republican enablers out. It is the only chance to save the America we claim to love.
15
Trump should recuse himself from Earth and save us all the trouble.
23
Follow his logic to conclusion and Gorsuch and Kavanaugh should also recuse . While we are at it, why not Thomas too? His wife advises Trump.
23
Simple solution: Allow only life long ultra-conservative Republicans to serve on juries and judges.
1
There's more reason for the two Trump-appointed justices to recuse themselves.
10
Trump is again assuming his leadership of this country is all that matters. He can do whatever he pleases in an abject rejection of our Constitution and the rule of Law. “When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our nation.” (Calvin Coolidge).
11
This from a party which blocked legit nominees from Obama ? Laughter is the only response that they deserve.
15
Donald is right, of course. Our judicial system is biased against crime and corruption. No doubt every criminal and every corrupt politician feels subject to that bias. As it should be.
6
If this article doesn't scare you about the state of our country under trump nothing will.
13
All bets off. We’ve descended into a period of madness. Where familiar templates of justice, social discourse & spirit of community have transmogrified into the unfamiliar with the Constitution being the 1st casualty.
15
He appointed two, both under controversy. Should they recuse
themselves from Trump’s income tax case, for fear of even seeming to act in quid pro quo for lifetime appointments?
I wish Garland were on the SC.
22
Voters are supposed to pick their politicians. Justice is supposed to be impartial.
It seems the same politicians who want to pick their voters now want to pick their judges too.
8
If Ginsburg and Soto Mayor recuse themselves then I think Alito and Thomas should do so because they rule with the conservatives every time.
11
Trump knows the Supreme Court is in his pocket. Roberts may have issued one mild rebuke in public, but his actions speak louder than his words - as a reliable eraser of our Constitution on a 5-4 vote, a majority founded on McConnell’s stolen seat. He sat like a potted plant while a Republican Senate acquitted Trump of the most serious misconduct imaginable without permitting any evidence to even be heard!
If Trump gets another term, we’ll get a lifetime of extreme right-wing judicial activism and a tacit endorsement of his dictatorship.
If he doesn’t, Roberts et al will try to obstruct everything a Democratic Congress and President do. If Democrats win in the fall, they should immediately increase the size of a court that has lost its legitimacy.
7
President Trump needs to put more conservative justices on the bench. The more the merrier.
1
OK, have the two justices he appointed recuse themselves too.
6
It’s a shame Trump can’t grow a thicker skin. And that he can’t turn off the TV and focus his attention on the real and urgent needs of this country instead of zeroing in on his perceived enemies.
7
Trump's efforts to subvert and corrupt our judicial system are beyond the pale and pose a real threat to our tripartite system of government. Add to that his relentless attacks on the fourth estate and gross demagoguery on social media and you have fascist soup.
Not a joke, not an extreme comment. Fact.
15
Oh.. he's a crook. They should lock him up and put him in jail. Plain and simple..
11
So now Trump is trying to put his thumb on the scale of Supreme Court decisions?
Up until recently, I had avoided the "vote blue no matter who" train.
But unless we can vote this tyrant out, along with his Republican lackeys in Congress, we are through. Fascism is what Trump and Republicans clearly want. And defeating Trump and his sycophants depends on whether or not we show up to the polls in numbers large enough to overcome the gerrymandering, voter roll purging, and voter suppression already employed by these Republican power-hungry freaks.
With Trump and the GOP in power, we are in deep Constitutional trouble at every turn.
With Trump and the GOP in power, our national security becomes more and more compromised, making us more vulnerable to an attack on U.S. soil.
As with everything else, Trump is twisting a legitimate power to his own corrupt ends. And Republicans in Congress have chosen to protect and enable trump at all costs to the country.
Vote them all out. Every single one of them.
As a former Republican until 2016, I do not say that following lightly.
20
The stable genius of unmatched wisdom aka Gods chosen one has spoken ! Obey dear leader ! Just what our founding fathers tried to protect us from and here we are!
3
If the Trump doctrine of recusal was applied to the senate impeachment trial trump would have been impeached - 16 republican senators criticized him in 2016.
From https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/10/13218722/republican-senators-wont-vote-endorse-trump
“ Three incidents in particular have led me to the inescapable conclusion that Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president.”. Susan Collins
This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology text book, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying,” Cruz told reporters on May 3. “The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist—a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever seen.
. During the 2016 campaign, Graham had called Trump a “nutjob” and a loser,” as well as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” He predicted that if the GOP nominated him, “we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.”
This is not a decision that I have reached lightly, but his pattern of behavior has left me no choice,” Sen. Mike Crapo, of Idaho, ...“Make no mistake, we need a conservative in the White House. I urge Donald Trump to step aside
Lisa Murkowski
Oct 8, 2016
I cannot and will not support Donald Trump for president. He has forfeited the right to be our party’s nominee
9
Mr.
Do America a favor and rescue yourself from the presidency
7
Just one more step toward fascism. Get used to it. Or vote.
3
Sure, Sotomayor and Ginsburg recuse themselves because they are biased against Trump. Then Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Alito, and Thomas recuse themselves because they are hopelessly biased in his favor. Then it'll just be Kagan and Breyer steering the ship. Come to think of it, I think I could live with that.
Or does The Don really think his Fab Five are just calling balls and strikes?
6
I hope RBG lives forever.
9
Based upon her dissents - sadly, it’s apparent she entered a vegetative state - mentally - some years ago.
1
The best way to treat Donald J. Trump is to just ignore him. This is a man who has speculated on shooting someone on Madison Avenue, not out of malice, but strictly out of a mad desire to garner attention and, with that, one more mindless iota of self-promotion.
His stupid remarks concerning his requested recusal of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor? No different. When a bully wants to pick a fight - ignore him. The press would perform an immense service to the American public if it did not allow itself to be a vehicle for this man's childish nonsense.
There are more important things to worry about than an aging septagenarian's nasty, attention-getting temper tantrums. More coverage on the consequences of global warming. Less space devoted to the daily verbal diarrhea flowing out of the Oval Office and down the hall to the West Wing via Twitter or interviews with Fox News. Stop being a conduit.
18
5th Avenue. If he shot someone Madison Avenue he would go to jail.
1
As Trump continues to tweet, Barr remains silent.
11
You expected anything else from the equally rightwing AG? He is no better than his boss, and will do as he is told!
1
Once again, Trump shows that he has no knowledge of the Constitution and Separation of Powers. I'm just astounded. Trump has already shown that he does not respect the judicial branches, judges or anyone else who disagrees with him. Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor have the right to dissent and they have the right to use their judicial review. They have done so with integrity unlike the statements or distortions of this president.
10
@Louise Sullivan
This has nothing to do with separation of powers, or judicial review! And nobody is saying they can't dissent. Did you even read the article? This is about comments made by judges that create reasonable questions about their impartiality.
2
There is one man, who in his own words, is biased, who disregards evidence, who tears down anyone who does respect the rule of law: Donald Trump. Winning isn't enough for him. He needs to slander and break, not only honest and patriotic citizens, but also the hard-won democratic institutions of our country so he can prove to his people that he is "the only one who can fix it."
12
Where will this end?? With a banana republic, I fear.
15
Interfering with the Supreme Court of the United States..
Another step closer to a full dictatorship.
Mr. Trump has to go along with his incompetent
corrupt cronies
13
Interesting than lets have Clarence Thomas excuse himself. In the past cases have come before him which were a conflict of interest and now that includes his wife and her right wing causes. For Mr. Trump the street always appears to be one way his way well sorry maybe you should bring your daughter the grafter and her husband back from India and check out the wonderful Stock Market and economy you love to shout about the chickens are coming home to roost. It is not the virus as Rush Limburgh claims is only a minor cold open can hope he gets one and a plot against Trump the man makes $40 million plus a year and makes like he is a common what is the word con man. Frankly it time for Barr to tell the King to shout up or Barr should quit, but we know that won't happen since he is one of the capos. Made $40,000 to the boss before Christmas for a birthday party. How about Kavanaugh withdraws from an case that has to do with woman since he has not regard for them. Jim Trautman
7
Is there a way to impose a gag order on the dictator wannabe in the White House? Before he undermines every democratic institution it has taken hundreds of years to build?
11
By my understanding, the Deutsche Bank case is going to be argued before the Supreme Court in March and probably will be decided by June. As you might recall, that is the case in which the congressional subcommittee is trying to get the records of Trump's transactions with Deutsche Bank, to see if he is beholden to any foreign powers. The overwhelming consensus of legal opinion seems to be that Deutsche Bank must hand over the subpoenaed documents. So, Trump is trying a little preemptive delegitimization of the Supreme Court ahead of the devastatingly unfavorable decision that his lawyers have warned him is likely coming down.
17
Exactly who would imagine the Supreme Court would EVER vote against Trump in the Deutsche Bank case. That is surely a naive notion, given the current makeup of the court.
1
@Mark
No Russian money no Trump Organization. Deutsche Bank is about as corrupt as they can be and still operate.
1
@Kathy
We shall see if the Supreme Court will do the delegitimization for Trump.
For pity's sake, Chief Justice Roberts, speak up! Protect your colleagues, the Supreme Court, The Rule of Law, the Constitution and our country from this creature who would become a dictator.
30
The silence from the GOP is eerie. You can hear a pin drop from here.
24
You mean the way Antonin Scalia recused himself in lawsuits involving Dick Cheney and Walmart because he went on hunting trips with the VP, and his own son was litigating the Walmart case?
Oh, wait! Scalia refused to recuse himself in those cases!
24
Stalin is laughing from his grave.
9
25th Amendment. Now.
20
What thinking person wouldn't have a bias against this malignant personality disorder masquerading as a human?
33
I laughed out loud when I read the part about the reporter who accurately summarized Justice Sotomayor’s remarks in her dissent and Trump said “That’s not it”. This from a guy who doesn’t read anything and, based on the spelling in his Twitter comments, probably would struggle to spell “cat”if you don’t spot him the c or the t.
21
I would prefer to see Trump recuse himself from the Presidency -- not that he hasn't already technically done so, but just be gone far and clear from the office and its influence for sanity's sake.
13
Love this comment.
1
Why do the media even report this?? It's an absurd demand, especially coming from the indisputably most corrupt president in US history. Just because he says something doesn't mean it has to be reported with a blaring headline. It should be reported on the funny pages if anything!
14
the dissenting justice rightfully was challenging these repeated short cuts by team trump-- sending issues directly to the supreme Court rather than following established protocol, as well as chastising her associates for allowing what usually would be turned away. trump is a fascist and in this repetitive poor sportsmanship, he is acting like one.
8
Justices recuse themselves from cases based on well-defined legal standards. Trump knows next to nothing about these standards and is just making a knee jerk demand. It's foolishness, and that's how it should be treated.
The notion that he is seriously threatening fundamental judicial practice is nonsense. The proper response here is that he doesn't know what he's talking about. You can't threaten the legitimacy of an institution if you don't understand the rules of the game.
8
@michjas
But you're completely ignoring what that legal standard is. It is this: Per 28 U.S. Code section 455, "Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."
Nobody can argue that RBG's statements about Trump don't mandate her recusal.
1
"independent judges"... that's the last thing DJT wants.
7
(a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. 28 USC 455
4
The problem is that the person who is making this call to have the justices recuse themselves seems to be a career criminal. Donald Trump has already told us that he could shoot somebody in the middle of Times Square And still be elected. Donald Trump has no respect for the law and feels that he is the law. No citizen of the United States is above the law.
3
The key word is "reasonably".
1
Chief Justice John Roberts:
Are you really such a coward and so feckless that you cannot condemn in no uncertain terms this assault on the fundamental separation of power among three co-equal branches of government?
It's in the Constitution...pretty fundamental, you know? You remember the Constitution, don't you?
Your ringing silence behind of lifetime appointment to the federal bench stands in stark contrast to the heroic risks and sacrifices career officials at State, Justice, Defense and other federal departments have taken with their careers and futures to preserve our Constitution in the last three years. And it horrifies those of us who have laid our friends to rest across the Potomac in Arlington.
You are destroying your institution by failing to defend it.
35
We all know what Trump is and what he does. We know he does not read, we know he does not write, we know he has no retention span, we know most people just hate working for him, we know he lies, we know cheats, we even know he steals, we know he does not pay his subcontractors, we know he is litigious to the point of the absurd, we know he is adulterous, we know he has absolutely no knowledge of the inner workings of our government or of our Constitution, and most of all we know all of that because he displays it day in and day out. So, his statements about our Supreme Court Judges must be taken in the light of what we know about Trump. Trump is like a bad oder in room that you cannot leave. You must suffer thru it and when you get out take a good shower and dry clean your clothing.
29
Mr Trump, SCOTUS Justices never have to recuse themselves. Didn't you know ?
10
The man’s ego knows no bounds. I beg every man and woman to register to vote and vote this excrescence out of office!
24
The polarization of American politics is a direct result of two parties system which grant the political monopoly to 2 major party and suppress the development of the middle of the ground third party where most of us belong to. The taking over of two parties by the xenophobic racists on the right and something for nothing socialists on the left is the direct result of this system and none of us should be surprised by it.
1
'When the reporter accurately summarized part of the justice’s dissent, the president said, “No, I don’t think that was it.”'
That's the Trump presidency in a nutshell. A shallow and often wrong understanding of what occurred. That's how the guy has spouted over ten thousand lies. He acts like a demagogue and authoritarian ruler and America just goes along. The Republicans close their eyes. There he is in India in open support of an Indian government that brutalizes a large portion of its population because of their religion. Modi is a strong man and Trump likes strong men. Maybe America was really never any better than this and Trump is our true face.
14
Our illustrious president should also then complain about the leader of the senate republicans who purposely, obviously and in syncopated marchin made the vote ordered from the top and forced the senate republicans (with one exception) to vote to acquit the president. Talk about a rigged election! Recognize that the president daily shows that he can do so much more and worse than Stone did and easily get away with it every time. Let's have a re-do so some executive influence can be applied to it to get a more acceptable verdict.
4
“I just thought it was so inappropriate, such a terrible statement for a Supreme Court justice,” the president said.
It is not possible to respond to this statement either seriously or with a straight face.
18
What is the difference in the political styles of Trump and Putin?
2
@Bev
Trump hasn't ordered someone killed yet. At least, none we have heard of.
1
@John Harper
He's given every appearance of having condoned if not approved the murder of The Washington Post's Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi.
4
I demand that tRump turn himself in to the nearest law enforcement agency and begin his 20 year sentence for the myriad crimes he has committed.
6
But of course, even though Clarence Thomas's wife is running interference for the GOP, helping eliminate all those from the Federal government who refuse to "take a knee" to Trump, Trump has absolutely no problem with Clarence Thomas's not recusing.
Apparently just another misogynistic day brought to you by our misogynist "President."
Note to someone who works for him: please let him know that the Supreme Court doesn't actually work for the President. As we all know full well by now, our President hasn't actually ever read the Constitution.
15
Is trump also going to demand that any male judge who’s ever made a sexist comment recuse himself from every case involving a woman or girl?
Or how about, at least, Kavanaugh sitting out any case involving Democrats or anyone who voted for or supported either of the Clintons, since he indicated in sworn testimony to the U.S. Senate and on national broadcasts his long-standing and continued resentment toward and distrust of Hillary and Bill Clinton, their supporters, and Democrats.
11
We have a global menace. Not corona virus. But the lack of an adequate health care infrastructure in the US - which has been undermined by “conservatives” for years - is a source of considerable concern.
The global menace is Trump and his band of sycophants and Republican enablers. Their one-note selling point so far was - “was” - the “great” unregulated, floating on free money from the Fed, tax cuts used for stock buybacks, and deficit-spending economy.
Corporations are awash in debt driven by zero-interest-rate policy. So much for the great economy when the market can go down roughly 2000 points in two days.
Somebody needs to get rid of this guy. And I’m not sure who that’s going to be. The Democrats? Race relations, women’s rights, LGBTQ pride, #MeToo, 86 private health insurance, free tuition, prison reform: wonderful, noble, relevant, trendy?
It’s going to be the economy, Stupid. Can anybody remember as far back as Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs’ mortgage derivatives, AIG, no liquidity, and leveraged all the way to the moon?
Maybe Yogi Berra can...
4
@Vidal Delgado
The market drop has nothing to do with corporate debt or interest rates. Or, national debt.
The market is responding to the prospect of diminished economic activity. Pretty easy to understand.
I'm not for Trump, but the market drop has nothing to do with is policies.
1
Trump should recuse himself from the presidency.
8
As if Trump has read three consecutive sentences of a single Supreme Court opinion ever in his life, anyways...
7
A staunch Democrat, I believe RBG's comment a year ago was poor judgement. That said, when SCOTUS used bogus logic to stop the 2000 recount, Scalia, with his usual charm, famously snapped "Get over it." Should all the justices that protected Bush have recused themselves henceforth?
7
It is worth highlighting that not only did he ask two liberal judges to recuse themselves, they are also women. He is once again attacking women.
5
...said the man whose entire family is in "advisory" roles and thus making deals to profit (and likely pull Trump out of debt, which we'd realize had we a view of those pesky little tax returns that, amazingly, no Russian has hacked and passed on to The Guardian).
President or no, why do we pay attention to this feckless fool anymore? The media should just put together a weekly story that highlights Trumps rantings, ravings, attempts to further destroy the environment (and make his coal and gas people, and futures, happy), etc., and save the US, if not the world, a ton of misery.
Heck, the Media-at-large might even get a Nobel Peace Prize for it.
6
I don't know much about Ginsberg. She looks rather frail and sickly and headed for a nursing home shortly. Sotomayor looks better but needs to lose some weight. Being appointed for life is ridiculous. I guess Ginsberg is so interested in power and money (?) that she will not retire. She must have plenty of money so it's power that is keeping her on the Supreme Court.
2
Or perhaps a sense of upholding decency in the face of a snake oil salesman leading a movement in the direction of a dictatorial plutocracy?
2
@Carol : MAYBE it's just because she wants to fight for what is RIGHT!!!
1
Trump should recuse himself from the Presidency. FULL STOP.
2
maybe Trump should recuse himself from interference in court cases...
2
Political prisoners and refusal to leave office. That's all that's lacking for Trump to be Dictator.
3
Trump Is working to have nine justices in his pocket, as opposed to the 5 already there!
3
I don't know what Trump is worried about. This supreme court now votes 5-4 in favour of his policies in a majority of cases anyway. Trump's design to stack the bench has worked.
12
@Bis K -- He just likes to whine.
1
The question of democracy is answered. We have failed to keep it.
7
By the same logic the conservative justices should recuse themselves because they're biased for him.
10
Trump could benefit from a middle-school civics course. The judges of the Supreme Court are indifferent to his opinions and desires.
2
@Mark Pope
Unfortunately, we all learn later in life how much corruption really exists.
@Mark Pope He would buy the school and ''revise'' the course.
At first I thought "another outburst" not worthy of attention. But now I think it will be instructive: we'll see the extent to which the malignancy that is Trump has corrupted, or can corrupt, the judiciary. No surprise he turns in this direction; Congress has been effectively neutralized, the Executive branch is being purged as we speak....the Courts are the next and final obstacle to the dismantling of our constitutional framework.
8
We know that none of the nine justices will recuse themselves no matter the case. Let’s keep it this way. And let the chips fall where they may. If the justices start recusing themselves for this case and that, there will be fewer justices deciding a case. We do not want this to happen. We need them all.
2
@KMW
Not true. SCOTUS justices recuse themselves all the time.
I read the Sotomayor dissent; she said the Administration is too quick to ask for emergency hearings at the Supreme Court and that the Court was too quick to not only hear the cases, but to side with the administration.
So, where is she wrong?
11
@Jills
She's not wrong. But RBG is definitely wrong. The leading experts on judicial ethics agree with Trump that she must recuse herself.
2
Which Judicial experts, the talking heads on Fox News?
1
Troels Heiredal,
It will not be the Supreme Court justices or judges who decide the fate of women’s reproductive choices such as abortion. We have seen past results and most have not favored the pro life movement, It will be the pro life folks themselves who will decide the final outcome. The growing pro life movement has been growing by leaps and bounds and having much success. There is no stopping them. They have been the ones to reduce the number of abortions and persuade women to have their babies,
Last evening I attended a candlelight pro life vigil with over 100 people in attendance in Manhattan. It was the start of the 40 Days for Life campaign. This has been going on for over 10 years and takes place in every state snd many parts of the world. This is one of many pro life groups who have made quite a difference in saving babies from abortion. We have many young men and women joining in and they will continue until abortion is ended. They are enthusiastic and have lots of energy. They are the pro lifers of tomorrow.
The courts will not make much of a difference but young pro life people will. They want to end abortion and want it to happen soon. They will not give up the good fight. They will succeed.
1
Wow, your group managed to get 100 people in a city of 8,000,000 to show up to your rally. Woo-hoo? You seem to think that’s a demonstration of popular support for the idea that a woman can’t be permitted to determine the care and treatment of her own body. The other 7,999,900 of us beg to differ. You are welcome to the free exercise of your religious beliefs but not to impose them on the rest of us.
5
@KMW - I hope the pro-life movement, after being so successful in “persuading” women to have the babies, will continue their pro-life support of those women and babies by ensuring that they have decent housing, medical insurance, clothes, food and education and that top-notch child care is available and affordable. Of course, there will be no requirement that these women attend any particular religious services in return for this support because life is so precious you will do all that is necessary to support all life, right?
5
@KMW -- They will not succeed. They may be able to criminalize abortions, the doctors who perform them and the women who have them, but they will not end abortions. There have been abortions going back thousands of years in every society, every country. Throughout history, women have sought ways to end pregnancy. That won't stop because of a few candlelight vigils. Women may die, but some will still seek an abortion, or abort themselves. Don't suppose you'll end abortion. You never will.
First the Senate chooses the evidence and witnesses for Trump’s impeachment trial (none). Now Trump goes that one better and chooses his own judges. Next he’ll eliminate any trials involving himself altogether, and sell it to his base as a cost-savings, freeing up more tax dollars to persecute – I mean prosecute – his enemies. I’m surprised there isn't more seismic activity on the east coast, what with the founding fathers spinning in their graves and all.
7
Any person has a right to request a judge to recluse himself or herself. Of course the problem is it is up to the judge to decide if he or she is impartial.
2
My country: Allows free speech even for 45! So, if I may be so imprudent as to suggest that since 45 is living in our WH, he might want to prepare the government and the country for the onslaught of the impending coronavirus epidemic that is looming over our health, well-being, economy, health insurance and hospital institutions, CDC, NIH, etc. etc. -- many agencies and gears in our government his neglect and attacks has decimated through his failure to fund and hire staff to run these sources of help and solutions in a global pandemic!
When is 45 going to organize an all-hands-on effort to prepare for this inevitability? Does 45 just think he is paid a salary whether he donates it or not just to play golf 60% of his working hours? American public has a right to expect a positive ROI!
1
@Denker Dunsmuir Go ahead, Denker. Suggest it.
Further demonstrating that he knows absolutely nothing about how government works, Trump requests that the Supreme Court show bias if he asks them to.
5
People get the government they deserve. A divided house cannot stand. War, in one form or another, is inevitable.
1
@Dave
I very much doubt one man can start a civil war in the US. States would have to start acting like Trump. Not even the worst behaved toddler does that, except for Trump.
Then the two justices appointed by Trump should recuse from any Trump cases.
11
The two justices that were selected by Trump have a conflict of interest and therefore they should recuse themselves.
7
@Denis
That's not a conflict. They owe him nothing, and he can't fire them.
1
Trump laments the objections to his cases that have gone before the courts as biased.
It could also be—and hear me out on this—that the president who literally wanted to have moats filled with alligators along his vaunted wall is proposing policies that have dubious legal standing.
2
If you're not scared of Trump's trampling of the Constitution and it's co-equal branches of government, then there's nothing left to say. He wants to be America's Putin.
6
If any justices should recuse themselves in matters involving Donald Trump, it is Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, the two who owe their jobs to him. There is no clearer conflict of interest than that.
7
ok, then recuse the Trump appointees whose hands he went out of his way to shake exiting his inglorious SOTU address.....
though I keep thinking - hoping against hope?- am I wrong? - that Kavanaugh at least has a constitutional backbone (no man above the law; respect for legal process (lawfully issued subpoenas); due process; obstruction of justice; witness tampering) and that CJ Roberts will be his mentor.
1
If we don't stop trump in 2020, we can kiss our democracy goodbye. American needs to wake up.
7
I seem t recall that Justice Kavanaugh was involved in organizing and participating in the 2000 "Brook Brothers Riot" in Florida that stopped the vote count and led to the Court's decision that gave the Presidency to Bush.
How does a Justice recuse from THAT?
7
@Bill Wolfe
well, since it happened 20 years before he joined the Court, they don't
1
Trump wants only his appointees passing judgment on his actions. The Republicans in government will support that position.
This nation is in trouble.
4
@Bob Bunsen
You clearly haven't been paying attention. Trump hasn't asked for Breyer or Kagan, the Court's two other liberal justices, to recuse themselves. Only the two that have made biased statements against him and his administration.
1
@Gmoog biased, or logical? Trump’s actions and statements have been on full display for many years, and it is only logical that most same people could arrive at a negative opinion about him. That doesn’t mean that they can’t rise above that and be impartial. Unfortunately, Trump himself wouldn’t recognize that type of behavior, since he has proven many times over that he isn’t able to understand or empathize with anyone that isn’t praising him.
1
@GMooG We understand that you believe that anyone who disagrees with Trump is biased against him, when the reality is that they might simply have a better understanding of how our laws and justice system work.
2
Why even entertain this bizarre suggestion. Trump leads the news media down a garden path and they feel duty bound to report every outlandish tweet or pronouncement.
While Trump is undoubtedly a very valuable commercial asset for every media organisation the more respectable ones, such as the NYT, should give ideas such as this the coverage they deserve, namely on page 10 below the fold.
4
If this is how Trump thinks, he should set the example by recusing himself from intelligence briefings. He clearly has no interest in intelligence.
3
Sure, as long as all the Rep appointed judges recuse themselves too ...
2
Another glaring reason to vote blue no matter who come November. His attitude towards our judicial branch and his executive privilege and authority, PLUS the likelihood that whomever is in office will select another justice for the bench.
This is part of a bigger picture.
Let’s keep focused on the real issue – stopping Trump from destroying America.
Trump has become a full-fledged corrupt dictator, and the GOP is supporting him.
Trump’s extreme narcissism presents an imminent danger to America and to the world. The GOP caters to Trump’s every whim.
Trump has betrayed our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia. The GOP has become the Gang of Putin.
Trump sees enemies among immigrants, refugees, minorities, the Press, our government agencies, and our Allies. The GOP has endorsed all of this.
We need to get rid of Trump and his GOP apologists. Vote Blue, no matter who!
7
We must all vote whomever the democratic nominee is. This is the only way to stop Trump.
3
Trump is employing an old trick used by basketball coaches. He’s trying to “work the refs,” meaning if you complain enough you won’t get the immediate call but you’ll get the ones down the line. It won’t work because judges aren’t afraid of him.
@Oliver
It's not a trick. It's federal law: 28 U.S. Code secion 455 says "Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."
2
By this standard, shouldn’t Justices Thomas, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch also recuse themselves for bias?
3
@Nye Thomas
No, because none of them has made a biased statement about any party to the litigation.
1
But of course. The two justices should recuse themselves, and the rest of us should shut up. Not to do so would disturb our king.
We can discuss the fine points all day, I'm sure. But I'm beginning tp wonder what it tales to displace our current dictatorship and thoroughly rile the American people. How much are we to endure for a mistake made less than four years ago?
On top of trying to further erode the independence of the Judiciary, Trump reveals his ignorance by not even knowing why he was attacking the Justice.He heard some Fox News rant and ran with it. Incredible.
2
No one is above the law.
Trump can't be indicted while in office.
Which one is true?
@beantownah Kavenaugh and Gorisch should clearly recuse themselves as Trump got them their jobs. Trump should recuse himself for lying when he repeatedly committed publicly to release his taxes.
1
The response from Chief Justice Roberts is 'silence'. No doubt fearful of a dressing down from the Grifter , he clearly has Trump's back.
1
It's time for John Roberts to speak up and remind trump and everyone else that the judiciary is an equal third branch of the government. He cannot be silent while the executive branch tarnishes the reputation of 2 members of the supreme court. These are unusual times and it requires a response from the chief justice in defense of the judiciary.
78
Why is a "Supreme" Court or any other court needed since a "very stable genius" is president and qualified to render justice and sage wisdom on all issues?
1
Yes!
Trump is far from eloquent when he expresses his displeasure with the courts, but in the end his analysis is on point. This explanation in the article, "...but Justice Sotomayor did not frame her disagreement in partisan terms, and her dissent was written in much the same way as others by justices who lose divided rulings", proves nothing more than that as a jurist she is adept at covering her tracks and couching positions rooted in a personal perspective in neutral language. Trump lacks the linguistic chops to make his point with rapier precision, but on the underlying issue he wins the point.
5
@Robert Yet Barr, Trump’s water boy, continues with his partisan activity.
And that is met with silence from the conservative camp.
True, to wrongs do not make a right, but, call it as it is equally.
So, Robert, what is your opinion about Barr and his partisan activity within Justice?
1
@Robert ''proves nothing more than that....''
I hadn't realized she was trying to prove anything.
Eye roll. We know, Trump supporters believe anything he says is perfect. Why do you bother reading or watching the news? Isn’t Trump going to tell you whatever you need to know? Just wondering, have you been this obsequious towards Republican presidents your whole life, or is this just a special relationship you have with Trump?
1
(Republican) Sens. McConnell and Graham blatantly declared that they had no intention of being impartial during the impeachment trial- then violated their oaths to do impartial justice by taking said oath. No bias there? They defiled the integrity of their offices. Any recusals should have happened then.
41
"do as i say, not as i do"
the catch phrase for all hypocrites
If I appeared before a judge, I would expect that judge to be neutral. If the judge had made negative comments about me in the past, I would expect that judge to recuse. Courts work best when the judge has an open mind, not a personal axe to grind.
4
Bias can be positive or negative. At this pace all the justices should recuse themselves.
Supreme Court justices always publish a dissenting opinion unless the judgement was unanimous. Sotomayor was not picking on Trump, the poor baby, she was doing her job.
5
@Louise Cavanaugh
The issue is not that she dissented. The issue is what she said in her dissent: it showed personal bias.
1
There is some truth to Trump's accusations of bias. RBG previously made comments about Trump that she had to apologize for as mentioned in the article. Sotomayor has also made comments about Trump that were negative. Chief Justice Roberts has continually made efforts to keep SCOTUS above politics cautioning the justices to watch what they say. The justices were advised to be stone faced during the SOTUA. Roberts has not been 100% successful in this endeavor and so Trump does have a point.
3
I would've considered this if Roberts would've removed all those senators who had openly pledged to work with the WH in the impeachment process, from being a "non-partisan" juror in that case. But of course those statements were happily swept under the rug.
29
The inappropriate and terrible statement is coming from the President. The Supreme Court justices deserve respect, and in the case of justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg, thanks for standing strong and being Justices who uphold the honor and duties of their judicial role.
13
@Soleil
I think that Trump should recuse himself from the White House.
I think it is time that the US should start to consider a special court only for the Trump cases. Create it as part of the infrastructure upgrade.
6
A court of Trump, by Trump, & for Trump. Brilliant!
1
This is important. It shows that Trump does not respect our Constitution, our government, our democracy, or the rule of law. This tells me that we may have a Reichstagg moment come November or December, post election. Pelosi and the House better have a plan to have Trump physically removed from office with minimal conflict and disruption
13
Then all need to be recused, those who expressed support and those who criticized. So what's the point of having a supreme court?
8
President Trump may speak out of turn at times, but it must be increasingly difficult when you are constantly being attacked by the left and liberals. He must become frustrated when he hears the negative comments on a daily basis. The media and progressives are always on the attack. He may bring a bit of this on himself but he is not always at fault. For instance, he said he was going to spend $2.5 billion on the coronavirus disease and he was told by the Democrats it was not enough. He said if he had proposed more they would have said it was too much. He cannot win with them.
Maybe he should not tweet so much or say the things he does, but he is performing splendidly as president. He has accomplished so much in his three years plus in office but has been given little credit. You almost wonder if they hope he fails. It does look that way at times. In spite of these criticisms, he will continue at rapid pace to make America great.
2
@KMW. Please enlighten me on the great accomplishments of our exalted leader. I have seen many negative accomplishments such as dismantling numerous programs that have in the past protected Americans from environmental harms such as elevated mercury admissions from power plants, pollution from automobiles that have been lessened in recent years through setting appropriate standards for auto manufacturers that he has worked against. Thanks if you can help me here.
2
Such double standards. Republicans sabotaged America for Obama's tenure. It's ok only for conservatives to hate America if the leadership isn't what conservatives want. Liberals should just surrender under conservative rule.
1
@KMW
His "splendid" performance as president includes destroying our waterways and wild-lands, selling our National Parks, locking children up in cages, alienating our allies while giving kudos to the worst and most blood-thirsty dictators in the world. Now he's going after Social Security and Medicare. And you think this makes America great? America was pretty darned great before Trump got his grubby fingers on our nation, now we're just a slummy banana republic with a mad-man running things. Enjoy it while you can, with Trump in charge, no one of the 98% class will be able to for very much longer.
Yes there is an obvious outspoken bias against Trump and they should both step down from any case pertaining to him. Even better they should both just retire. Its the fair thing to do but the left does hate Trump and will never play fair.
1
Justices that legislate from the bench should be removed. Trump has had more injunctions from liberal circuits granted in his three years than Bush or Obama had in 8. That in not impartial, it is a biased attack on legislation
2
@Duane Mathias
It could also be that the president who literally wanted to have moats filled with alligators along his vaunted wall is proposing policies that have dubious legal standing.
"The head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Kristen Clarke, said the president’s call for Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor to recuse themselves was “deeply disturbing and unprecedented.”
Don't tell me Ms. Clarke didn't find Justice Ginsburg's remarks about Trump also “deeply disturbing and unprecedented.”
1
Where is Roberts in this latest fiasco. First the Senate goes awol, now the court.
6
He's positioning himself to refuse to comply with future rulings.
13
@Mike S.
You nailed it.
1
Consider the source, for heaven's sake. Trump's always at it to keep the focus on him through outrageous comment. And the media go for the bait. Nonetheless, Chief Justice Roberts and the two justices targeted by Trump, Justice Sotomayor and Justice Ginsburg, wisely offered no comment ... because why, as dedicated servants of the Constitution, waste time on childish behavior by a needy adult who's simply obnoxious. Adolescent psychiatry is, after all, not their domain. An interesting comment on the situation might, however, be forthcoming from any of justice Trump is said to have under his control ... especially his two recent nominees that wound up appointed to the Court. Are they up it? one wonders. Trump wants to play in the big leagues, but he looks silly trying. His "genius" shtick in the cause of justice though is on full display ... once more.
4
there is no longer any free speech in this country..we have lost our democracy...
5
Judge Roberts needs to handle this quickly. Recusals are rare at this level and this assault is more than shot across the bow. Barr attempted to show his spine last week in a well organized display of disunion with his boss and that counted as the bow shot. Roberts has the guts, the lifetime job, and the bearing to discreetly silence this issue at the WH.
4
@Sean Berry
If he weighs in, it will be against RBG on this; she was just plain wrong in saying what she did. I love her but she was so wrong; the country's most respected expert on legal ethics, Stephen Gillers from NYU, said she should recuse herself.
1
i don't remember trump complaining about the republican senators' bias during the impeachment "trial", or is my memory faulty?
24
Chief Justice Roberts who slithered through the “senate trial” and doesn’t know the meaning of to preside. You must remember from your elementary school civics classes, (Oh I forgot, no more civics, therefore no more civility) To preside, the Chief Justice was supposed to be one of the checks and balances, but he chose to crawl out the back door saying, one branch shouldn’t interfere with with the procedures of another. He’s the first judge in history to “preside” over a trial without evidence or witnesses.
7
Of course these judges are biased. They’re biased against anyone of any party as corrupt as the conman trump who undermines our constitution and rule of law 24/7.
Thank God the Supreme Court still has some Judges left with some integrity willing to push back on the corrupt, Russian puppet trump.
You go ladies, in 2020 trump and hopefully many Republicans will be kicked to the curb.
12
“No president in modern times,” she said “has shown greater disrespect for or worked to actively undermine the independence of the judiciary than President Trump.”
So so undeniably true. Trump believes he is the law. Of course he shows "exasperation" in "his tweets and impropromtu" (Beantownah) uncontrolled, petulant, aggressive outbursts when he is being held to account to the laws of our land. "Judicial activism" my foot - this is just adherence to our laws. It is judicial resistance and assertion of independence to a wannabe dictator who is actively trying to undermine and get rid of our independent judiciary so he has a kangaroo court. Luckily there are still Clinton and Obama appointed judges that have fidelity to the truth and the law and not to Trump first.
5
I hope that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg stays with us for a long, long time. And Sotomayor too. But, if we lose Ruth before the election the Republicans will slam an ultra-rightwing conservative down our throats.
7
We must be prepared for Trump using a spurious claim of a Supreme Court "biased" against him as the basis for defying any SCOTUS rulings against him.
5
Trump has a bigly problem when it comes to smart, educated, powerful women. Why is Trump so afraid of women who can think?
7
@Linda Because he can't?
So when Trump jails the "liberal" justices along with a few other democratic leaders, will their colleagues on the court care?
My bet's on no. The Republicans on SCOTUS are as corrupt as the Republicans in the Senate. Can't wait to see Susan Collins's "concerned" face.
6
Where is Justice John Roberts's voice in this, surely, his pay grade and status as Chief Justice of the independent third arm of Government demands that he step in to protect his judiciaries from incoming attacks by a corrupt President, President's family specifically the delinquent Don Jr and enabling Republican Congress/Senate, though he himself is a member of the Republican Party while representing the Court his duty is first and foremost to the integrity of both the Chamber and all that serve and present before it, If he is unwilling to defend these Female Justices from the onslaught of Trump who is becoming more and more erratic as the days progress then maybe he should leave before his tenure being done, however, were he to do so, then surely this malicious President and his Party would again advocate and confirm the most unqualified, how long before Trump rewards Sekulow, who should be looked at for millions begotten by his charity work that serves his wife, family. What is being done to a country such as the United States which is beginning to see the lawlessness of this compulsive fraudster Trump is more than disgraceful or distasteful, it seems like it is the beginning of a "coup" against his own Government in order to profit and to dictate, thus the name dictator, Most likely the only thing stopping this near treasonous act is the fact that so far until he is able to appoint a loyalist DNI(the rejected Ratcliffe)a non-removal of Esper from Defense is a lifesaver
2
NY Times, Ginsburg and Sotomayor are not "liberal justices" they are simply justices. Fix your headline.
It is Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that are political actors masquerading in robes. We're fortunate to still have four justices who neutrally apply the law - Kagan and Breyer in addition to the aforementioned.
That neutral application of the law results in opinions preferred by people associated with Democrats (i.e., these days, anyone who isn't a goose-stepping national socialist) is not evidence of political bias. It's simply correlation with ethics, intelligence and competence.
7
Let's make a deal - Trump agrees to recuse himself from the Presidency, and maybe we won't deport him.
5
Trump has it absolutely backwards. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh should recuse themselves, because they owe their elevation to Trump. Further, Gorsuch is sitting in a stolen Supreme Court seat.
5
Give Trump a second term, and we will have a US of Trump!
Yes, a dictatorship, and an example of dictatorship for nations!
I hope the Democrats will focus on the Trump Virus, threat.
I hope Democrats will focus on a new democracy wave in 2020.
"Democracy is coming to the USA" (Leonard Cohen song)
2
Trump just took his list of grievances to another country where he knew he would be given the red-carpet treatment. He does not care about India, he just wants the adoring crowds; more bragging rights. Yet, there he is, standing on foreign soil accusing two Supreme Court judges of his own country as being crooked. There is no bottom for this man.
5
Trump's statements regarding the justices are totally outrageous and inappropriate, as the comments resoundingly indicate. However, why isn't anyone shocked by the impropriety of the revered notorious RBG, who evinces clear animus?
4
The religious SCOTUS judges should recuse themselves from all non-canon-law cases. AMEN
3
The Supreme Court should remind Donald Trump that his is not a king but instead the conservatives on the court behave like he has a giant kompromat file on them
5
Justice Scalia fairly covered the issue of when a Justice should recuse himself. It is worth reading before launching in on uninformed commentary - and I hope the press re-reads his opinion under the “what’s sauce for the goose” principle.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/03pdf/03-475scalia.pdf
What about those conservative toadies who never heard a Trump argument they didn't support? Do they have to recuse themselves, too?
3
@Baltimore Jack
says the guy who doesn't know what he is talking about. Each of the conservative judges on SCOTUS has, at one point or more, ruled against the Trump administration.
2
Parents, this is what can happen when you feed your babies with silver spoons. Feed them with more love and less hate. Take them into nature to see plant world. Tell them that humans used to know the words to the songs that birds sing. Take them into the ocean and explain that this is where life comes from and where water goes. Take that silver spoon out of your babies mouths mammas. Because this is what can happen. They can grow to be fat and mean and poor about everything that matters.
2
It's time for the Chief Justice to defend his fellow justices in clear terms that even Trump can understand. Failing to do so demonstrates cowardice and a disregard for judicial independence. It's also past time for Barr to resign if his word is to be taken as anything but a sick joke.
3
@Martin
Sorry, Sotomayor's remarks are probably OK, but RBG's comments are clearly biased. When RBG made those comments years ago (before Trump was elected), the foremost scholars of legal ethics, including Stephen Gillers from NYU, said that RBG would have to recuse herself from SCOTUScases involving Trump. See link to article here: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/13/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-recuse/index.html
Isn't it funny that the article doesn't mention that, or quote any experts in legal ethics? Wonder why?
2
"The president ratcheted up a fight with a judicial system he sees as biased against him." No, he does not see it as biased. He pretends to. This is what he learnt as a crooked real estate developer: attack the accuser, attack the courts, attack the judges. Remember the "Mexican" judge who was "biased" against him? It is all a WWF stuff. Ignore him.
3
The 2020 Democratics are working to bring forth their equally polarizing left-most candidate that will also loose the Electoral College vote. The left will never understand their culpability nor how they are the cause of this abusive incumbent administration / wannabe dictatorship. "Nip it in the bud... but only with my scissors" will not win the majority of Electoral College votes for the Democrats.
2
I demand Trump recuse himself from the Presidency!
4
@Adam Okay, Adam . We'll relay the message.
2
Trump's obtuseness is uncontroversial. He is a vulgar bully abusing the powers of the presidency without any compunction. His legalese dictum is 'my way or the highway', no matter how awful his criminal behavior might be. Of course, as an astute charlatan, and shrewd demagogue, 'convinced' he is above the law, he will try to sink the law to his usual toxic brew. Ever since he was falsely acquitted, he has become completely unhinged, when even his partner- in- crime (Barr) spoke up. Luckily, Trump is fiercely inept, unable to dethrone two of the most prudent judges in the Supreme Court, able and willing to tell the truth in spite of Trump's machinations.
2
@manfred marcus Are we correct in assuming you don't like him....
@manfred marcus
You are exceptionally articulate!
We have a con man insulting the unsullied reputations of two of our finest Supreme Court Justices.
This is the quagmire we find ourselves in and our venerable country is hanging in the balance.
This kind of misogyny is unconscionable and unacceptable.
America deserves better than a lying, cheating, miscreant as her figurehead. We deserve to protect the hallowed halls of the White House from this despot.
4
@Pamela L. Actually, Pamela, it's not exactly a quagmire we stepped in.
trump was jury tampering the other day when he called out the name of a juror he vehemently disagreed with on the Stone verdict. Those jurors were kept from the public to remain anonymous. But big mouth called the juror out. So I am hoping that some day the mob boss will be indicted and convicted of jury tampering by the South District Courts once the Dems are in control. Because this is all insane.
6
Any decent person is anti this outrageous clown, so of course judges may fall into this large group of sane individuals. It's normal and healthy to be against most of what Trump stands for.
3
Right. And the report from the head of National Security that Russia is interfering in the election is bogus, The Moeller investigation was a witch hunt. The ambassador to Ukraine was a very bad person. The Fed is keeping the interest rate too high. The Press is the enemy of the people. Stone, Manafort, and Flynn have been treated very badly. Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers. Climate change is a hoax. The whistleblower committed treason. And anybody who says any different. And anybody who says any different will be fired.
2
Wow. The USA is now in banana terms on a level similar to Idi Amin's Uganda or Emperor Bokasa's CAR.
A pathetic laughing stock - and sadly dangerously dysfunctional given its strong military and chronic war mongering.
3
Somebody please tell me why POTUS did not commit indirect contempt of the (Supreme) court.
4
@David Hoffman
because "indirect contempt of court" is not a thing. You see, there's this First Amendment that applies here...
1
Trump is undermining our legal system on a regular basis. He sends out his crazy tweets and whoever the target is has to defend themselves. Not to mention that for decades to come there will be people in this country who are convinced all courts are stacked against them.
Get rid of this bum. He’s a waste of oxygen.
5
So Trump attacks a SC justice on the basis of a "news" piece by Laura Ingraham. When presented with Sotomeyer's actual words, Trump denies her actual statement. We are in a twilight zone of stupidity led by one Donald J. Trump.
Meanwhile the wife of a SC Justice is on Trump's loyalty committee. How about Justice Thomas recuse himself from all cases related to Trump? That won't happen of course.
6
@Margaret No, Margaret, he's not the stupid one. He's getting what he wants. We're the ones letting him have it.
Is anybody else just totally sick of this man’s act right about now? Is there any new low he hasn’t reached yet? Ugh
6
All I can see if the Democrats win in 2020 is LOCK HIM UP!
4
@Casey ...I think execution would be preferable
@Casey Really ? That's all you can see .....
It's funny. In almost every instance where the NYT publishes a story about legal or judicial ethics, they get a quote from an expert on ethics. Most would agree that the foremost US expert on attorney and judicial ethics is Prof. Stephen Gillers of NYU.
But for some reason, in this article, nobody bothered to ask any legal experts what they think (or at least to report it). I wonder if that is because the liberal NYT writer and editors know that they would get an answer they did not want to hear.
Back when RBG first made her comment that Trump was a "faker," CNN actually did the work of journalists, and asked Prof. Gillers what he thought about it. This is what CNN wrote:
"If the Supreme Court finds itself in the position of deciding the presidential election -- as it did in 2000 between Al Gore and George W. Bush -- some legal experts say the liberal icon would likely have to recuse herself. 'A federal law requires all federal judges, including the justices, to recuse themselves if their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned'," said Stephen Gillers, a legal ethicist at New York University School of Law. Under this test, Justice Ginsburg's remarks would prevent her from sitting in the unlikely event of a 'Clinton v. Trump' case that determines the next president," he said."
https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/13/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-recuse/index.html
3
The two women, surprise, surprise. I demand that Donald J Trump recuse himself from the human race.
3
@Two Americas
He cannot do that, he is not a part of it.
What an evil joke he is. The 'Joker' in our real American Life. How unfortunate for us all.
3
If the Democrats take the WH and Senate in November, the first thing on the agenda should be to impeach Gorsuch and Kavanaugh as having been illegally appointed.
3
Might as well keep all liberals from the polls, too.
3
Does he have a clue? He runs roughshod over the separation of powers; now he’s demanding control over Supreme Court Justices. He hasn’t learned anything in these past three years, still making ridiculous, ignorant comments and suggestions.
It’s tiring!
3
Can someone tell a Fox newscaster to tell Trump to stop it?
2
Trump is more amoeba than man. Amoebas injest and destroy their food. They injest and destroy threats to their existence. They even injest and destroy smaller amoebas. Trump is destroying friend and foe alike. He sees the world as his food source. The smaller amoeba of his administration will be utterly destroyed. Let's not let him gobble down the rest of us.
3
Of course. if you disagree with Trump on any subject, you are biased. Trump has been gifted of infused wisdom.
3
Why the Times keeps covering this playground bully is beyond me. There is so much more real news in the world. Ignore a child’s misbehavior and the child will usually cease that behavior. It’s high time we start treating this potus like the spoiled child he is. Ignore him.
3
There are no Republican judges? Hahahahahha. Clarence and his wife are good places to start.
3
Why do you print this Trump garbage? The man suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and has a very low opinion of himself. He constantly sees himself as "the victim". After 18,000 of his lies in 3+ years, the last thing I want to hear is Trump declaring which SCOTUS Justices are good Americans.
4
Once Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh recuse themselves from Trump and Trump related cases we'll talk. The COWARD-in-Chief has zero credibility.
2
Any sane person is biased against Donald Trump.
3
Beyond the pale. This guy think he is king.
2
.... and WE THE PEOPLE demand that YOU “Mister President” recuse YOURSELF from the White House and go STRAIGHT TO JAIL!
4
Sounds fair enough.
Disqualifying members of the judiciary whose views might fail to align with the president's is, after all, the apotheosis if a properly-functioning constitutional democracy.
If I were Justice Ginsburg or Sotomayor I'd just pack up my backpack and say, "Oh gee, OK then. That sounds exactly like what the nation's founders intended."
The next question is: why shouldn't any critic of this president be banished from the judiciary forever?
29
@John lebaron , I think him and Barr are in the process of doing so.
6
Now, now..let's be fair..we need to hear Laura of Fox -- authoress of this idea -- dialate on the recusal thing and, if she has time, on what legal areas that the new white guys might encounter and be duty bound to recuse. Also, America is anxious to hear, I'm sure, from the entire Fox think tank -- - Hannto, Tuck, G-Man, the Five, the two Judges -- as our President draws inspiration and formulates actions sparked by these powerful citizens - so all America needs need their warnings, insights and proposals.--- Heart of America.
2
Bias means prejudice in favor of or against one thing - if Trump were to get these bias recusals, those in favor of must recuse as well!
31
As I am sure others have noted, Mr. Trump has no objection to the participation in "Trump related cases" of those very justices who owe their jobs to him. This observation, which would have at one time served to point out truly shocking hypocrisy on the part of the leader of the free world, today is just another component of the chronic tinnitus of futile protest that provides that background soundtrack of the Trump era.
21
from Andy Borowitz:
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says Trump Should Recuse Himself from All Decisions Involving the Future of the Country."
62
Is Ginni Thomas, Clarence Thomas's, wife doing the correct thing when she suggests lists of people who should be fired from the trump administration? I don't think so. Maybe Justice Thomas should recuse himself from all the cases that come before the Court because our alleged president has no familiarity with the Constitution. This country along with donald trump has lost its mind.
55
Trump is a fighter. I look forward to Trump defending causes with the same spirit as saving $1,000 on a plumbing contract or cashing a 13-cent check.
5
It's called "judge shopping" when lawyers do it for clients. They know how particular judges rule in certain circumstances and try to get their case moved to that judge's calendar. It's legally frowned-upon.
12
@Linray As bad as that sounds, going around looking for a particular judge is one thing, demanding that the judge who you don't like to simply recuse him/herself from your case is just nauseating.
2
@Linray Except that it can't be done, even on the sly, when there's a panel of judges. And only a willfully ignorant person who insists upon having no idea of how the 3 branches of government work would even think to suggest it.
1
Trump "demands"? He might not be well informed (why should this be different than anything else he does or thinks) but once these Justices are appointed, he cannot demand them to do ANYTHING. Thank heaven 4 of the 9 Justices are still fighting to preserve and protect the Constitution that they swore to interpret objectively.
44
@ManhattanWilliam Concr its obscene that Brett, Gorsuch and Elito are bought by the Trump Crime Syndicate.
2
Trump demands. Trump insists. Trump tweets. Trump's latest tantrum.
Why are we allowing this man-child's tantrums to dictate national policy?
66
President Trump would benefit most were the Court to be restructured: He could suggest that he be able to choose from among a rotating pool of acting Justices according to preference as cases are scheduled to be heard before the Court.
He could then choose from among a number of people he may already have pardoned, or likely will pardon for transgressions that they may or may not have committed, a condition in turn affected by the leanings of particular inferior judges who hear cases in lower courts. Problem solved.
2
Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are great justices. I hope President Trump has the opportunity to appoint more during his term. Of course, one needs to leave in order to choose a replacement. Who will that person be. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one possibility. She has served for some time now and is getting up there in years. It has been known that she sometimes naps during trials so maybe she should think of retiring. She is after all in her late eighties. She has served us well but she should enjoy the rest of her life relaxing.
1
What an ignorant comment. Supreme Court justices don’t preside over trials and as such Justice Ginsburg hasn’t been in a trial in decades. The whole premise of the SC is to have a final argument and appeal. It’s an appeals court basically. I think this person napped during civics class.
3
@KMW
Ever thought of the idea that maybe justices should be apolitical?
3
@KMW Justice Garland is a great justice! Oh yeah, I forgot.
1
How about the two he appointed? Are they supposed to recuse themselves too?
46
@John How about all five of the Catholics recusing themselves when issues involving the Catholic Church appear before the court. Like the one they will hear involving the loss of a city contract because of the refusal by a Catholic agency to permit adoptions to parents in a same sex marriage.
2
@John Dont get all logical or the infantile white conservatives will scream not fair.
We need to stop calling SCOTUS an impartial institution. Chief Justice Roberts was wrong when he said that the Justices were neither Republican nor Democrat. The Judicial Branch is just as, if not more so, hyper-partisan as the Executive and the Legislative branches are because Article 3 judges are appointed for life. In fact. SCOTUS has been hyper-partisan since at least the Nixon era and it should be administered as such with an allocation for both liberal and conservative justices - an honest proposition which is about as likely as the sun rising in the West for seven days straight. So, buckle up campers. With the legions of 30-something Federalist Society-approved Article 3 jurists the GOP has stacked on the Federal bench, it’s going to be a long and bumpy ride.
8
@Julio Wong They are Republican, Catholic, and Democratic.
1
fine. as long as kavanaugh and gorsuch sit out the same cases. throw in alito and thomas for good measure.
24
@Andie As long as Justice Thomas's. wife is playing a role in the White House, he should recuse on everything involving the White House too.
How about Gorsuch and Kavanaugh recusing themselves as Trump appointed them. That sure seems like that would make them biased especially as how Trump expects everyone whom he appoints to any position to agree with him totally.
19
I've said before, but ultimately it will require armed, federal law enforcement officials to remove Trump from office. He will not accept losing the election in November.
Why am I saying this? 1) The Republicans support him, no matter what he does, or what damage he does; 2) The Democrats are too scared to take the gloves off; 3) the likelihood that our election will not be tainted is slim, tainted by Russia, voter suppression, and outright destruction of data.
These are all depressing things. People need to mobilize on the streets and make their voices heard as they do around the world. People in places like Iraq are willing to die to vote, while in the US only about 60% of eligible voters will actually vote.
19
Trump: the great expert on judicial ethics. And remember when he said he would be a great general? As I recall he went to neither Harvard Law School nor West Point. Oh, I forgot, he has an amazing legal mind and is a better general than the world has ever seen. As he has proclaimed, he is the nation's chief law enforcement officer and top military commander. And now has taken a seat on the Supreme Court. President Bone Spurs is gunning for his rightful spot in the Dictators' Club of the World. All hail the Chosen One!!
16
@Lawton ; you forgot: also his uncle was some sort of scientist!
1
@Lawton: be sure you genuflect when address the little man- otherwise he will get hurt feelings and spew his middle school feelings in the most incoherent whining on twitter.
1
@Lawton and Mia Farrow's child in the Dakota, born in the year one.
The justices who should recuse themselves are the two he has appointed.
The man has no respect for the integrity of these fine and honorable justices. He also has no respect for women.
Trump wants only 'Yes' Men, with the emphasis on both 'men' and 'yes.' He also so insecure he declares every dissenting opinion as partisan; you are either with him or a traitor.
17
Hey Chief Justice Roberts, America is counting on you to ensure the Supreme Court's reputation is not shattered like that of the Senate, Justice department, and State department. Lay down the law, please.
19
@Don Chanfrau hahahahaha. He is helping overthrow the Constitution. He is hyper partisan. He doesn't like us to say it, but not enough not to be that way.
25th Amendment. How much more do we need to see?
14
@Mike P I was already on board with that when he was running and was calling people names and mocking the disabled. A normal adult who is running for an office, doesn't do any of those things.
2
I guess the conservative Justices should have recused themselves before they agreed to stop the Florida recount and install George W. Bush in the White House.
14
RBG is a woman of integrity and I don't think she would have written that article if she didn't mean it.
I'm surprised that anyone would complain about it being used to substantiate a claim of bias.
3
@Margo
What are you talking about? There is no article. Ginsberg made her comments about Trump in an interview.
1
Trump "demands." The Judiciary is a separate branch of government which the President does not control. I don't understand why the headline does not read "Trump wants . . ." The verb gives the impression that he has a right to demand this. He does not.
9
Justice Roberts should defend his colleagues. He’s just another of Trump’s henchmen if he remains silent.
15
Actually, it is both of his Supreme Court Nominees, that should recuse from any cases heard that relate to him.
Nice try though Donnie.. throwing shade is what feeds your base.. and we all know they have huge appetites for partisan shade throwing.
Keep feeding your base.. it is after all.. all you have.
8
J Midwest,
Asking Catholic judges and justices to recuse themselves would place a religious test on them. Do you really want to go there. We would then have to ask Jewish judges and justices to recuse themselves. This would create a slippery slope towards religious bias don’t you think.
2
Trump and his surrogates didn't and can't respond to the empirical facts laid out by Justice Sotomayor.
“Claiming one emergency after another, the government has recently sought stays in an unprecedented number of cases, demanding immediate attention and consuming limited court resources in each,” she wrote.
“And with each successive application, of course, its cries of urgency ring increasingly hollow.”
Trump is corrupt and corrupting every corner of our government.
9
The fact-denying GOP has a real problem with the truth. Which is a key reason that they are working to transform our government to authoritarianism, aka dictator, aka king.
10
Just one more example of why Trump is unfit for his office.
7
This is rich. Coming from a man aided by the senate GOP holding up then denying Judge Garland his seat in favor of conservative judge Gorsuch. I wish we could ignore him. But, ignoring a caged and angry animal never goes well for the human being.
3
Correction: Trump was referring to a District Court Judge when he made the "Obama judge" comment, not a SCOTUS Justice.
Although judges are supposed to be impartial, to Trump a biased judiciary is just fine. As long as the bias is in his favor of course. Just another way this president who is always screaming “hoax” is he himself the biggest hoax of all.
5
We all know the "President" doesn't know enough about the workings of any aspect of government to come up with this on his own. Who is dripping this poison into his ear? Mitch? the Federalist Soc? Roger Stone?
America is officially #USBananaRepublic. Everything is for sale; police, judges, supreme court, pardons for re-election donations, and POTUS (with a little help from your Russian friends). Four more years of insanity due to antiquated electoral college and a tax break for billionaires so they can plow it back into #tRump re-election. the corruption is unparalleled in a democracy. What an embarrassment to live next door to you. You should be ashamed of what you have elected and how its impacting the rest of the planet.
3
If anything, trump-appointed judges should recuse themselves... as should Clarence Thomas, whose wife is an enthusiastic trump cult member.
More seriously, though, it’s time for Chief Judge Roberts to give trump another remedial civics lesson and remind him that “there are no Obama judges” etc.
4
Sure. And Alito, Thomas, Roberts, and the rest of the new reich's appointees can do likewise, right?
Is there no place this ignorant man does not insert his personal interests?
4
trump being a criminal it's understandable he doesn't like judges.
7
@exo Capone bought them.
Trump thought they came with the White House dinnerware.
2
Sigh. Just another very sad day in Trump Bizarro World.
6
Simple answer: NO!!!
3
Trump occasionally says something intelligent and truthful. His comment on Sotomayor "She's trying to shame people, with perhaps a different view, into voting her way . . ."; those "people" being other Supreme Court Justices . . . so Trump's admitting, what Sotomayor's complained about . . . is SHAMEFUL.
Attorney General Barr is like the owner of a vicious dog, snarling in the face of a baby, and saying 'I just can't control him.' Hey, he's YOUR dog, if you can't control him, you know what to do . . . . . . resign.
5
As Mussolini said, installing fascism is like plucking a bird's feathers—one at a time.
6
@Patriots Impeach, Cowards Acquit Interesting. Somehow, though, I can't think of her as a feather.
But it really does annoy him that she's a "girl'' and doesn't know her place.
Evidently you've entirely missed the timeline on how this matter tracks. Justice Sotomayor arose out of nowhere to rail against a President she clearly dislikes because he refuses to knuckle under to the bias she represents.
4
@J Brian There is nothing factual at all in your statement. It's just partisan projection and you have made no point at all. Typical of the trumpist mindset wherein facts are an impediment.
14
this is a joke. conservative justices are biased by design. they should recuse themselves for ever.
16
I keep hoping that Trump will recuse himself from the presidency.
26
Great news folks. Trump's blathering radiates with his own deep insecurity. How does he deal with it? He tries desperately and unfortunately often succeeds in alienating and bullying other people to get his way. He loves to bully and divide people But his methods and tricks ARE NOT going to work now. WHY? Climate Change and the Coronavirus don't give on iota WHICH political party or how much wealth any individual has... Americans of all races and political parties, along with our fellow World Citizens are coming face-to-face with extremely, complex problems. Challenges that one can't buy, borrow or steal one's way out of. DIVERSITY of thought, ideas and solutions are needed to address the present and the future. If we survive the next 20 years, an important factor will be our ability to embrace DIVERSITY of thought, ideas and solutions. Justice Ginsberg and Justice Sotomayor embrace and respect DIVERSITY. Trump only cares about his own ego and bank account. He's about to fall into a cesspool, Protecting the Diversity of Perspectives on the US Supreme Court will assist us moving forward with positive, constructive actions. The survival of HUMANITY will depend on it in the coming decade.
11
It's proper and correct for those who support democracy and rule of law to have a bias against a fascist dictator, sociopath, nepotist and vindictive narcissist.
26
Now he wants to recuse or limit Supreme Court judges' from making decisions! Wake up America, your "naked king" is after your freedoms, one by one, because he says he can. This is making America great????? Our country is looking more like Germany of the 1930's every day.
39
Harriet, just the liberal judges
1
Trump trying to manipulate the court reminds me of a case I once served on as a juror. The defendant was an alleged rapist. When his lawyer asked the jury pool who thought rape was wrong everyone of us raised our hands. He and his lawyer then used that as reason why we were all biased against him.
16
@Panthiest : good one!
1
I am sure my hero RGB has some appropriate Latin in mind for the “Dear Leader” Trump.
11
The only take-away from Pres Trump's comments is that he is concerned about future Supreme Court rulings against him personally. Rulings on tax filing releases to Congress are coming up in June. There's no actual substance to his assertions, and the oddly specific call for recusal in "Trump-related" cases pretty much points to his concerns.
16
TRUMP TO SUPREME COURT:
"I am the law! You are window dressing whose sole function is to do what I tell you to do. Now, get to it, and get in line."
29
He's arrogant and bombastic and not politically polished. But he's not wrong either. And look at the number of injunctions against things he has wanted to do. Almost all of those have come from a liberal CA judge or the other judge in Hawaii.
4
And others have come from judges he or another Republican appointed.
9
Let’s be clear then-
This rule applies to Mr Gorsuch and Kavanaugh as well..,
4
Yes, he is wrong. One does not get to have judges recuse themselves because of ideology. They have gone through a process to become judges and the rest of us have to assume they will do their best to be impartial.
I draw your attention to the rather large number of SCOTUS Justices who were appointed by a particular president who wound up being more liberal or conservative than that president.
3
Pass a law, take away his Twitter activity. This form of government by tweet is abominably wrong! He’s trying to destroy our police and military. Very Steve Brannon-ish, to me.
21
@Not That Kind
at some point it will be incitement to violence.
3
He's a criminal! Justice systems exist to be biased against criminals. It is sort of their job description
30
There is no end to what he will do.
10
@Timbuk He wants the judges to recuse themselves but legally he can't make them do it. The headline says "demand," but the Constitution says the Judiciary is separate from the Executive Branch. The Senate has already given up their status as a separate branch. I doubt the Supreme Court will do so. Trump has been getting away with illegal acts all his life and now has extended this into the Oval Office. If he gets his mitts into Supreme Court rules, it will be the end of our Freedoms.
3
Criminal trump always fearing miles more than impeachment fearing Supreme Court allowing tax return release signifying congenital fraud dwarfing Bernie Madoff’s transgressions.
8
You've got it backwards, Don. It's the conservative justices that are allowing you to call basically anything an emergency, when there's no emergency at all. They are the ones who should recuse themselves. Oh, and by the way, you should resign.
24
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” [Chief Justice Roberts] said in a statement. “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.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/us/politics/trump-chief-justice-roberts-rebuke.html
6
Trump should recuse himself from opening his mouth. He should certainly recuse himself from betraying the interests of the United States of America in favor of his own personal interests. Played much golf lately Mr. President? I would rather you played golf and ripped us off that way than have you running your yap damaging the United States.
12
Neither Sotomayor nor Ginsberg are “liberal”. They read the laws passed by Congress and the regulations established pursuant to them and then use their scholarly knowledge of the Constitution to arrive at a decision that comports with it. It’s not these justices that came up with the fictional concept of “originalism”, as if its framers intended it to be interpreted in 18th century terms. There’s your bias.
16
Any judge appointed by Trump should recuse themselves. In fact all the neo conservative judges should resign, they are nothing more than political hacks supporting a dictator.
15
I demand Trump recuse himself from governing
13
Sotomayor and Ginsberg argued that the travel ban of citizens of hostile countries was the same as imprisoning Japanese Americans in WW11. Roberts let them know how wrong they were. The liberal justices had no intentions of following the rule of law. They were trying to bend it to fit their liking. The liberal justices have an agenda that in their minds is above the law. If they don’t like the law, change it from the bench. The DA’s in sanctuary cities are working the same way. For many liberal justices not following the law is the excepted norm in their minds. They shouldn’t just recuse. They should be thrown off the bench.
2
@Jim If interpreting the Constitution as it applies to laws were easy we wouldn't need any judges at all. Roberts didn't prove that Sotomayor and Ginsberg were wrong. They just saw it differently than other justices and were in the minority on that case. It happens all the time. You may disagree with them and agree with Roberts, but you are not a Supreme Court Justice or even a Senator or Representative. To "throw them off the bench" would require an impeachment in the House and a conviction in the Senate. Don't hold your breath, Jim.
5
@Jim
And the conservative judges: objective saints?
4
This newspaper, a while back, ran an opinion piece by Admiral McRaven. Not one of our President's fervent admirers. Dear me, no.
Admiral McRaven described a kind a military ceremony he attended some time ago. At that ceremony, another office gripped him by the arm. This officer had something to say. He said it. Loudly. Clearly. The words have stuck with me ever since:
"I don't like the Democrats," he said, "but Trump is destroying the Republic."
This country has been around well over two hundred years. Under one Constitution--one form of government. Even Mr. Donald J. Trump--and that servile gang of Republican senators that simply roll over and play dead whenever their scowling, red-faced chief does or says anything especially outrageous--
--even mr. Donald. J. Trump cannot single-handedly "destroy the Republic." It may survive him.
Emphasis on "may."
Because, dear Lord above, New York Times--
--he seems to be taking a sledgehammer to anything and everything in our government--in our democracy--in our society he simply doesn't like.
And now this concerning the Supreme Court.
The arrogance of the man. The chutzpah if you will.
Where does it stop?
Especially--
--if he gets another term.
And he may.
He may.
10
Judges are generally biased against criminals. That is why they go to jail instead of walking free. Unless of course they have a pardon or a fellow Criminal in the White house ready to set them free.
Criminal Trump wants a jury that will exonerate his lawless generate behavior . Some weak willed underlings like Barr, McConnell, Ryan , the GOP ,ETC.
LOCK HIM UP!
9
Only if the judges that have said anything supportive of Trump are recused. AND, if Trump has said anything good about a Supreme Court Justice, they should be recused, since those judges may favor him.
6
So, should judges who express their personal views against abortion, Citizens United, and other strong political views recuse themselves from all cases on these subjects? As much as I might disagree with many of the more recent split decisions in favor of conservative (Republican) causes, I accept that their views (selective and influenced by their political bias, just as those of liberal justices) are legal.
The problem is that Trump has no intergrity of respect for rationality and a dedication to anything besides his own agenda, so doesn't even understand integrity and loyalty to something greater than himself. So, of course, he is continuing to do a reverse Darwinism of weeding out all honest people from as many branches of the government as he can and hiring spineless lackeys in their places.
11
Wow. The man doesn't even make a pretense about caring for the rule of law and the separation of powers. We can expect autocracy if he gets another four years.
10
“No president in modern times,” she said “has shown greater disrespect for or worked to actively undermine the independence of the judiciary than President Trump.”
I can't wait to see Trump doing the 'perp' walk.
6
Republican senators, as you hide and bumble around in the Senate—
You're the ones who have facilitated Trump and allowed him to remain in office, to the profound detriment of our country and the world.
And regarding this latest Trump assault on our third branch of government, the Supreme Court: Mr. Chief Justice Roberts it's time, past time, for you to say something.
8
Those liberal justices are probably all that stands between us and Trump’s total destruction of the rule of law and perhaps the entire Constitution.
8
Beyond the beyond. Trump knows little about the laws of our country or who should make our final legal decisions...except when it comes to bankruptcy. In that he is a seasoned professional.
6
Avoiding the appearance of impropriety is the basic ethical obligation of the legal profession.
Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch should recuse because of what happened to Merrick Garland.
Clarence Thomas should recuse because of his wife's active partisan political hacking, interfering and meddling.
12
"Justice Ginsburg called Mr. Trump a “faker” and said she could not imagine him as president."
This is as true as saying the sun comes up in the east.
America , haven`t you had enough of the Trump-Kushner crime family & their abettors ? The rest of the world has.
28
I’m recusing myself from america . I feel a lot better .
13
A President Hillary Clinton would have appointed two liberal justices instead of those chosen by President Trump. This is one of the reasons she was defeated. The people did not want the Supreme Court continuing on this left leaning path. President Trump will choose more conservative leaning justices as he promised during his campaign. He just needs to be re-elected to be able to do so which he will.
3
@KMW Need I remind you that Hillary received 3 million more votes than Trump? The people did not get what the people want.
12
@KMW except for the fact that Secretary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 3 million.
8
For many years, the blatant partisan and transparent bias of SCOTUS justices has been one of the more disturbing symptoms of our dying democracy. When was the last time the court returned an opinion that crossed partisan lines? Why pretend? The entire court has become a partisan playground.
Having said that Trump could not be more wrong. His continued obstruction of justice adds to the next Impeachment.
22
It is worth noting that FDR basically tried to do the same thing...tilting the political profile of the SC...with the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, and paid dearly or it. No piece of New Deal domestic legislation made it out of the Senate after 1937 (FDR’s last 2 terms).
Sorry folks...contrary to what you might believe...the New Deal was not a 12 year long “nirvana” of ongoing progressive domestic legislation.
The country was pretty “divided” back then also...particularly in both houses of Congress.
Trump's latest attack on the the only remaining impediment to complete dictatorial control--the Judicial branch--has finally reached the Supreme Court. Now that the Republican Senate has placed him out of the control of the Legislative branch, he's using his typical strategy of grievance and divisiveness to strike at the very heart of the Constitution--its "rule of law" that is the function of judiciary. If this pillar of our tripartite division of power with its check on unfettered Executive branch power falls, so will our democracy fall into the autocracy of a Trump tyranny. It's time for Chief Justice John Roberts to speak out as he did once before, but sadly neglected to do when he presided over, and tacitly endorse, the sham Senate trial that acquitted Trump. The battle to save our Constitution and the Republic are now firmly in his hands to defend, or to acquiesce to authoritarian rule.
8
Doesn't Trump have better things to do in India -- like negotiate a trade pact -- than to lash out against Supreme Court justices? This man is never able to concentrate on the matter at hand. Clearly he was bored and his attention wandering. Or maybe he figured he had to divert attention from the plunging stock market. Wonder who'll get the blame for that -- there's no political payoff in blaming a virus?
He's now targeted three justices, many judges and a host of prosecutors...not to mention the majority of Americans who did not vote for him. I suspect the man feels he's not a legitimate president. That's what I love about him...his insecurities and guilts are just so transparent. He's like an open book.
I'd think him just sad if he wasn't doing so much damage.
8
Its crystal clear how this eventually ends- the Supreme Court issues a ruling on say, mandating Trump releases his tax returns. And he of course refuses to do it. And of course nothing happens. And our newly anointed dictator further solidifies his vice grip on the levers of power and elevates himself even further above the law or those pesky Supreme Court rulings.
9
I would like Trump to recuse himself from the presidency.
34
Bravo, @Emilie.
2
Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are the ones who should recuse themselves on matters Trump.
Trump and the GOP railroaded these appointments.
And they blocked Obama’s chosen appointment for an entire year.
The President is now tampering with America’s most sacrosanct institution.
He thinks our country is one big TV show.
Impeach him again.
15
Who did what when?
Trump should recuse himself from the presidency because he is unable to meet his responsibility to defend the U.S. Constitution.
17
'The man who would be king'!!! This is so scarry.
3
Can this whole government just recuse itself, please?
10
Like any dictator he attacks judges, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, political opponents or anyone that questions his authority. History shows us that in the end it never goes well for dictators, their cronies or their families. It’s an unfortunate reality.
9
@J C Pope Let's hope that becomes reality, ASAP!
1
Trump/GOP owns the Senate; The Courts; Facebook and Big Business. Pandemic on our doorstep. Recession right around the corner. This is life under Republican rule
5
The president is obviously terrified of intelligent women.
30
The man is simply a menace.
19
This president needs to go. He is anathema to the American concept. An absolute tyrant. If he is re-elected we are doomed.
17
This paragraph says it all. The Trumpian approach in a nutshell:
"Mr. Trump did not seem familiar with what Justice Sotomayor actually wrote but instead seemed to be reacting to a headline that characterized her statement in a far balder, more political way than she had. Asked by a reporter what exactly he found inappropriate, Mr. Trump demurred, saying “you know what the statement was.” When the reporter accurately summarized part of the justice’s dissent, the president said, “No, I don’t think that was it.”
44
How is protecting the Supreme Court's legitimacy going now Justice Roberts since you decided presiding over a Kangaroo impeachment court was a good idea?
20
we demand that trump recuse himself from running our country into the ground. dow down a thousand points yesterday, almost a thousand today, coronavirus about to break into the United States...and where is the President...hanging out in India. Time for him to resign
16
Then what about recusing those who are in favor of him?
10
Trump believes he is Louis Quatorze.
'L'etat c'est moi.'
Any judge who rules in a way Trump doesn't like is by definition biased against Trump.
The merits of a particular case are irrelevant.
The judge either rules the way Trump wants or he/she is by definition biased against Trump.
9
This is how dictatorships begin. Silence judges, purge all dissent, ignore laws, and obey one man.
25
@Tonyp157...thank you so much for your comment. I couldn't agree with you more!!!
Perhaps the POTUS should appoint himself to the SCOTUS.
5
Please, let’s see those tax returns and banking records to see all your corruption.
14
America is fast becoming a failed state under the corrupt GOP. They need to removed from power at all levels of government by people who do not want themselves and/or their children to live as 2nd/3rd class citizens with no power and no resources.
14
What would Republicans say if a female Democratic president whined and carried on like this, lying and playing the poor helpless victim?
This creature is our big, strong, manly President?
14
Both of Donald Trump's illegitimate appointments to the Supreme Court should recuse themselves.
17
When you see the shrieking of the Trump trolls below about Sotomayor and Ginsburg, keep in mind Kavanaugh made far more biased statements, but since they were in favor of Donald Trump, his supporters have no problem with them. Trump supporters are dishonest, hypocritical frauds just like their "president."
21
The two outspoken blue SCOTUS judges are as impartial as the red senators who acquitted Trump.
2
I guess when you've crowned yourself King, you can pick who is going to sit in judgement against your wishes. He should change his name to King John.
In a sad way, I hope he just keeps talking whatever pops into his little pin head. It'll make great fodder for election talking points.
4
“Asked by a reporter what exactly he found inappropriate, Mr. Trump demurred, saying ‘you know what the statement was.’ When the reporter accurately summarized part of the justice’s dissent, the president said, ‘No, I don’t think that was it.’”
No, he doesn’t think that was the Justice’s statement, because he doesn’t know what Justice Sotomayor said. It is obvious Trump doesn’t think before he opens his big-mouth!
15
@I Gadfly You could have ended that second sentence at "No, he doesn't think!"
7
I think the entire Supreme Court should recuse itself. It's nothing but a political court, despite what Roberts says. Why else are McConnell and the radical right-wing republicans so frantically packing the courts?
Let's just not have any more anything to do with the law or justice. In trumpneyland, those are just obstacles in the way of making trashy trump slightly richer at our expense.
He could then turn the court buildings into trashy trump hotels, monuments to a world of alternate facts and a mockery of civility and norms.
5
@George Dietz
The entire federal court system is losing its legitimacy. But then, that just makes it on par with the rest of the federal government.
We are a banana republic.
4
What's good for the goose is also good for the gander. If Trump seriously wants Sotomayor and Ginsburg to recuse themselves, then I think the Conservative members of the court who ally themselves with Trump should also recuse themselves. Good lord, what is our country coming to that a President actually thinks this is "fair"? It's only "fair" if it benefits Trump and his slash and burn agenda.
4
Every week the President sets the bar higher with more outlandish accusations, statements and performances. Stocks are dropping like a stone hitting a pond. The world is on the cusp of a pandemic. He is telling two Supreme Court Judges to recuse themselves because he feels they are picking on him. He is in India eating Tiki Masala and promoting his hotels.
What a Charmer!
7
" (Trump) said the two justices should recuse themselves from hearing “anything having to do with “Trump or Trump-related.”"
Smart move to tick off the Supreme Court when you have so many cases in front of them now.
Go back to school, Donald, and read up how the government works. Clearly, you don't get it.
7
It would be fair, Mr. Trump, for you to demand that the five conservative justices recuse themselves, since they usually side with you, and are thus biased toward you.
8
So according to Trump no dissent from what he wants is allowed. Autocrats R Us is new slogan.
5
Should we not demand that Trump stay out of the Supreme Court?
4
Trump should send out a tweet disbanding the United States Supreme Court....lets see who lets out a squeak? He could announce that all legal matters are now decided by the Justice Department...who squeaks? Judges quit in protest? Who cares? Will Mitch McConnell and Bill Barr and the Republican Senate say anything..do anything? Lets see...
If we are really finished as a democracy...lets find out now.
5
Somebody needs to tell Donald Trump to get his face out of the justice system. He does a disservice not only to himself but to the rest of the American system of government. The ridicule that ripples through the halls of government in Washington about this man is almost overwhelming ; even the Republicans who have sold their souls to protect him can barely bear stench of everything that Donald Trump does or says . In the meantime, while he tries to destroy everything we’ve held dear for over 200 years, and while he continues to defile and deface everything that is worthy in America, all in the name of his own self interest, we need to come up with a way to decisively remove him from office by any legal means necessary . This is not just some overinflated politician whose policies are controversial. This is a dangerous and destructive human being . And the sooner that America is rid of this monster the better we will all be.
8
It is shocking to me to see the hypocrisy of the GOP and this administration. While #45 continues to meddle in the judicial branch and with anyone who opposes him or tells the truth in the intelligence community he says two SCOTUS should recuse themselves? Wow! I guess I can still be surprised by the depth this president will dive.
5
I think Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh should recuse themselves because they have a bias towards Trump.
5
Just when it looks like he can't go lower, he does ... the miserable excuse for a human being has 10 more months, so be prepared ... he is desperate for re election to avoid the charges awaiting him.
Don't be surprised if he starts some sort of military situation. A scary stat: no incumbent president in history has failed to be re elected during a war ...
Thankfully I trust the military. Their discipline and patriotism so far has been the only thing to keep them from responding to his blatant, cowardly disrespect of them.
But they will draw a line; not a soft line or a wavering line.
2
The word “dictatorship” should be present every day on the front pages as a wakeup call. The assault on all our institutions is ongoing and strong. Power grabs execute a plan that has been working for many decades in all dictatorships. It is happening now in this country. Name it while you can. Stop calling it “unprecedented”. It’s called dictatorship. Name it. Make people wake up!
4
Clearly these two justices are doing something right. As a Bronx girl, so proud.
9
@bronx girl Brooklyn girl proud too.
2
Guess what, Mr. Trump? That's not the way the American system works.
6
@Irene
Actually, it is. SCOTUS judges for hundreds of years have recused themselves when their impartiality was subject to reasobable question, as is the case here. I defy anyone reading this to try and find a similar situation where a sitting SCOTUS judge made comments about a sitting Presdient like RBG did; it never happens.
Federal litigation is a full-time job where you have to be able to read and write, and distinguish truth from fiction.
The 1,100 federal judges in the United States protect the Constitution and the rule of law. Our system of government depends on them.
A person who has lied at least 16,000 times in the past 3 years should not be insulting the judges that protect the Constitution. Federal judges work evenings and weekends to make the system fair and honest.
They are deserving of respect, not political contempt.
4
'it’s almost what she’s trying is take the people who do feel a different way and get them to vote the way that she would like them to vote,' he said.
Wow.
Just wow.
Who would have thought that nine justices on the Supreme Court would not simply agree on everything and each opinion would not be unanimous..
2
The current president will protect him and his in any way he can think of. Whereas you or me, before saying something, would bother to think whether it is true and moral, the president uses one single criterion: whether it may advance his cause. I don't think he's aware of any other criteria.
He seems to have behaved like this for many years so there should be no surprise at his latest pronouncements.
Of course Trump wants to tip the scales in his favor by getting rid of judges who may disagree with him. Not disagree with the law, mind you, but with him.
If anything, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas should recuse as all have shown a willingness to favor Trump regardless what the law says, Kavanaugh has made clear his desire to get back at the Democrats for his contentious confirmation hearings, and Thomas' wife is currently helping to guide Trump's purge of those who aren't conservative enough or subservient enough to Trump.
If only we had a working DOJ and Senate to handle this.
3
Trump again betrays his oath of office to preserve and protect the Constitution. He wants the third co-equal branch of our government, The Supreme Court, to recuse itself from their responsibility to the Constitution and the rule of law.
Justice Sotomayor and Ginsberg are brilliant jurists who've earned their position on the Supreme Court bench. This American applauds their performance and forbids that they recuse themselves from any case before the court.
Trump's and Putin's efforts to disrupt and remove trust in all national and international institutions that rein in dictators is in its most dangerous stage so far. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Turkish Prime Minister, President Assad of Syria, and others are ready to swoop in.
The time for any remaining responsible Republicans and others in or out of office to speak up is now. Thanks to those brave souls like Mitt Romney, the many who publicly called for Barr's resignation, the general who objected to Trump's actions re: Intelligence Director, etc. who have already risen to the occasion.
As long as conservatives also recuse themselves for their biases that work in favor of trump. That pretty much guts the U.S.SC
2
At what point does somebody just tell this man to be quiet? The Court is not there just to help him . they have OTHER cases that need to be dealt with for people and issues other than Trump's.
Voter issues, equality issues, things that are not about his neediness or his legal issues..Like Congress they are supposed to work for American citizens.
So, surprise us and treat them ALL with respect. They have lifetime appointments and frankly, Mr. Trump, in spite of your best efforts, you don't.
Please note that this is yet another occasion for him to demean and insult women......Must be tough knowing that so many of them are better educated and smarter than he is.
1
Truth - I think Bernie Sanders is a bit left of crazy. I think Elizabeth Warren is wound a bit too tight. I think Pete Buttigieg is a bit too young and, really, everyone else is perhaps a bit too old. I think Amy Klobuchar is a bit too bland and Mike Bloomberg is, perhaps, a bit too detached. And yet I will vote for any of them as a way of reversing the slide away from democracy in this country. Four years ago there were three branches of the federal government. Right now - maybe 1 and a half. And the half is shrinking fast. It's not a Republican vs Democrat thing any more - it's right versus wrong now. And these comments by this president are simply wrong.
14
When the media, and following that, the public, focus on the spew from POTUS's mouth and tweets, they and we tend to lose focus on the actual, more serious but less newsie damages being done by Trump's appointees to federal agencies on a weekly basis.
Trump's tweets will become irrelevant as soon as he's no longer in office, but the damage done by his appointees and policies will be with us for decades.
1
I taught middle school students for many years. A common theme in the behavior of 13 year olds was to accuse anybody and everybody of unfairness toward them. I or another teacher didn't like them. The rules were biased against them. Everyone picked on them.
My response was to always state that if their behavior changed, they might experience their world quite a bit differently.
Hmm... does this remind you of any current public leader?
3
I think it is far more appropriate that the two Political Hack appointments made by Trump recuse themselves.
1
Sure thing ...
And the two Trump appointees must recuse themselves as well.
And so should Justice Thomas, who's wife is employed by Trump.
1
Trump's one talent is manipulating the news cycle. In India, Trump sees that the media is consumed by two stories: (1) the Democratic Presidential hijinks, and (2) Trump's crackdown on "disloyalty" within his administration and the related matter of Justice Thomas's wife drawing up enemies lists to help in the purge, a highly improper role for a Supreme Court Justice's spouse. So Trump, speaking in India, throws a shiny object at the media and they all immediately distract themselves and the American people. Mr. Appropriate, no less, says Justice Sotomayor was "inappropriate" by writing something critical of his administration in a dissent. In this way, he puts himself back at the top of the news and simultaneously creates out of whole cloth a "whataboutism" for his supporters to trot out when asked about Mrs. Thomas's impropriety ("What about Sotomayor and Ginsberg acting inappropriately. They should recuse!") Have to hand it to him. The guy is clever. But of course, it only works because the "liberal media" routinely fall for it.
1
I am a retired member of the State Bar of Arizona, of the Federal District Court for the Sate of Arizona and the United States Supreme Court. I am also a Navy veteran ('65-'69).
I would argue that it's just the opposite of 45's suggestion. "His" justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh must recuse themselves from any and all cases related to him.
Indeed, I would further argue that should they decline, the respective Bar Associations, to which they belong, should immediately open investigations with respect to potential violations of their ethical rules (i. e. the appearance of a conflict. of interest.)
41
@Richard
I don't know how they teach law in Arizona, but apparently it's OK in Arizona for a judge to rule on a case even if the judge has called one of the litigants a "faker." That's not how it works in the rest of the judiciary.
1
@GMooG
Ginsberg made the comment BEFORE Trump was president.
@Susan
I know. But that has nothing to do with it. Her coments show a disqiualifying bias.
Kavanaugh made biased comments about the Clintons before he joined SCOTUS. Do you think he should not recuse himself in a case involving Hillary?
This is the reason our legal and court system should not be politicized. Judges and legal professionals at all levels need to uphold the law, and strive to not be swayed by political viewpoints and agendas.
6
It is a right and part of their role as supreme justices to officially write a dissention to a ruling, no matter which way he or she may lean. That is exactly what Justice Sotomayor did.
8
Dear fellow commenters,
It is always informative to read your thoughts. But in order to make sure you are putting across what you meant to convey, could you take an extra moment to proofread and correct what you obviously spent some time thinking about (e.g. superfluous or misplaced apostrophes)? Thanks so much!
12
@Jean Weiss
"e.g." requires a comma after the final period.
Being an internet pedant is rarely worthwhile.
6
trump is as simplistic as they come. the supreme court, and any courts for that matter, are only doing the right thing and working cohesively when they give a decision that favors trump and are horrible and biased when he doesn't get a decision that he likes. he holds that kind of idiotic view toward all agencies and to all congressmen and women. his attacks on representative adam schiff are only because he doesn't like the facts that schiff put forth. now, representative and lap dog devin nunes ignores the facts and goes running to trump to tell him things that he knows the president will not like. therefor, to trump, nunes is good; schiff is evil. the truth is bad; the 'alternative' truth that conway created is good.
5
Ah yes. Recuse yourself if your guiding principle is upholding the law, as opposed to grovelling to a dictator and the flagitious political party that props him up.
18
This isn’t polarization. This is fascism. It’s about pushing out anyone who isn’t fully supportive and insulates leadership authority from being questioned.
We are not polarized. This is a direct attack. Fascists playing the victim when people defend themselves for this attack is the way they operate to delegitimize opposition and steal power.
Republicans had their chance to protect us. Vote out all republicans in every office.
48
It's only going to get worse. Our Trumpian slide into fascism. I wonder if we'll be able to comment here if Trump wins a second term.
22
@PTNYC Trumplicans are putting us on lists. How bad will it get? Social Media harassment;Prison; deportation. The ideas are limitless.
2
If that’s the case then good ole boy, let’s drink while underage and boast about at his hearing Brett Kavanaugh should recuse himself from every single case due to the fact he has no idea what’s right from wrong.
18
"Trump lashed out", like the snake he is! Really, Don the Con? When you have Barr is recused from all the investigations haunting your corrupt administration then maybe you can ask.
3
Banana republic, with checks and balances, sort of.
3
So why would these judges relinquish their power, when Trump and his cronies never would? McConnell should have stepped down from the Senate trial. Did he? This accusation is just another red herring from a demagogue and his entitled criminal gang.
16
So, the president of the U.S. wants to hand pick the judges who will hear his cases?
Good god.
25
@Panthiest
If a case involing criminal charges against Hillary for her server/email came before SCOTUS, would it be OK with you for Kavanaugh not to recuse himself because of the anti-Clinton comments he made at his confirmation hearing?
Inappropriate and terrible describe everything Trump says and does
He's the last person in the world who should ever be able to pass that judgement on someone else
His daily rants and twitter tantrums prove he is utterly unfit for any office.
Hopefully that problem is addressed in our next election.
7
Let me stop everyone for a moment.
When you say Trump thought or read or decided or determined something, is that what you really meant? A man that uses coloring books and big one syllable words should not have any amount of intellect attributed to him. Use the right words!
8
He is trolling everyone. Just ignore it. How about asking the to new ones to recuse themselves. He likes calling them “his judges” how is that for impartiality?
Put him on a bus in november
8
More whipped cream for our banana republic.
Thanks, GOP. Come November, it'll be all your face.
5
We can only hope. (And, of course, vote.)
On can be certain if Trump is re-elected, he will have AG Barr insititute investigations of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Adam Schiff every Democrat and Mitt Romeny Thank you Susan Collins and the rest of the Republican lackeys.
10
His comments would be comical if they weren't so terrifying.
11
After 3 impossibly long, disastrous, and anxiety-producing years living under this hellish Administration, this Fake President should patriotically step up and self-recuse from anything having to do with America, spending his time solely playing golf at his numerous resorts around the world. He can call it the Trump Victory Tour, or anything that makes him feel better.
10
I can see Alito laughing with his friends, "Who cares how we get there." Kavanaugh trying to hide his smirk. Gorsuch coming up with reasons why this has to be right. Roberts looking solemn and officious not knowing what to do. Thomas thinking, Finally! we can get rid of everything decent.
Do these jerks have even the slightest loyalty to their colleagues who are being slandered here?
8
How dare they disagree with our newly minted dictator ,Trump will order Barr to have them investigated for anti Trump thoughts . Trump's new Intel chief another toady as declared Trump has 99 % approval rating around the world and every country wants Trump to be their King. Reality is hereby suspended and is replaced by his tweets and FOX STATE TV,.
4
Has there ever been a more disgusting creature than our cheesy mob-boss president. Tonight there is another Democratic candidates debate. On my view the candidates should evade or ignore the questions asked and, instead of stupidly and crassly (yess Elizabeth, that means YOU) attacking each other, they should speak about NOTHINGC . . . NOTHING, other than the Trump-Barr Mob's jury tampering and complet corruption of our system nd Department of Justice.
16
I'm not a Trump fan, but Justice Sotomayer's comments were out of line, too.
4
I agree. And I feel it was foolish of RBG to write that article.
I cannot believe this is happening here. I don’t sleep so good anymore.
4
The bigger they come the harder they fall.
God bless Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor!
The women in the SCOTUS are the only beacon that gives us hope!
9
This is really rich after the Senate Majority Leader declared his bias before the impeachment trial began and Republican Senators, with the exception of Mitt Romney, voted Trump not guilty, when they knew he was. He is an utter disgrace to the office and the human race.
13
If this attack on the US Justice System continues we will have no choice but to take to the streets.
3
I wish Trump would recuse himself from everything.
4
Always amusing when the most childishly partisan politician in memory whines about partisanship. Not nearly so amusing that 40 percent of the electorate doesn't see the irony. SAD.
6
Trump should recuse himself from the presidency. It is clear to the majority of Americans that he is incapable of leading our country nor accomplishing anything positive for our citizens.
4
All of this "system upset" goes away in a few months when the Circuit Courts of Appeals finally have enough Trump-appointed judges to themselves end the lunacy of nationwide injunctions issued by some pipsqueak District Court judge in Hawaii or Connecticut.
1
The entire SCOTUS should recuse themselves regarding all things trump. Problem solved!
Trump shouldn't worry too much about this. He will be in office long enough to replace them both anyway. That personal attorney of his Jay Sekulow would make an outstanding SCOTUS. The President needs a Supreme Court that has his back. Obama had one so turn about is fair play.
1
@RS
True. When you can "win" and election with fewer votes, as Donald Trump did and probably will do again (because in this country we give affirmative action to unproductive rural reactionaries), he will probably get a second term and finish the job of destroying the Supreme Court along with what's left of this country.
1
I don't think anyone wants to appoint someone who has no experience in the bench.
Mr. Trump,
Some of us can loathe (have someone look up the word) you and still believe and follow the rule of law.
1
Where was Donald when School House Rock was on ABC on Saturday mornings? Some very basic education in how a democracy works is missing.
3
Good grief. Would someone please let the Donald know that that is not how it works?
1
President Trump has this backwards - it's not the Liberal Justices who should recuse themselves - it's those who owe their appointments to the Supreme Court courtesy of himself and the GOP...in other words the majority.
6
Look, let's just cut to the chase and do away with the Legislative and Judicial branches of government. Then let the Executive branch do what they want. After all, that's what Article 2 stipulates when a Republican is in office. Right?
3
Is Mr. Trump capable of ever doing or saying anything good or positive about this country or those who serve our government or institutions?
Once again, this president seems to be a sour man who leaves in his wake little to be pleased with.
If this country didn't have the goods or military apparatus that is often at the center of Trump's foreign relations, I wonder how often this president would be so celebrated abroad?
1
During my three trips to Europe in the last year or so, every European we met (taxi drivers, people in restaurants) rolled their eyes or shook their heads when Trump was mentioned (Even an “Ooh, la la” in Paris). Not approval at all in my anecdotal experience.
1
That was simply a canny performance.
Never believe that sort of thing from someone who is expecting a tip. Especially those who have nothing riding on the situation otherwise.
Aren't we used to Trump disqualifying himself from all decent standards of Presidential behavior by now?
5
So, then, a defendant gets to choose their judge...? And this is what the US Constitution guarantees?
What planet is this trump from? And how do we send him back where he came from?
2
@Ernest Zarate
Welcome to Planet Earth, where in the USA, defendants ALWAYS have the right to request that a judge be recused for bias. It's been that way for hundreds of years.
"I only ask for fairness!" -
When are people going to stop being mean to Mr. Trump?
The guy's been pushed around his whole life, the poor thing.
It's just not fair.
3
Who cares what Trump says about this? He has absolutely no power or authority of any kind when it comes to the judicial power. He obviously has zilch understanding of or appreciation for our legal system. He seems literally to be the unbridled id.
1
We cannot expect Trump to be able to read through an entire opinion. We cannot expect trump to even do a quick google search for a summary of an opinion. We should not expect trump to do much of anything but blather on Twitter, and embarrass us on the global stage while he deals in narcisstic conspiracy theories.
1
We are now living under an authoritarian regime. Please vote him out NO matter who is the democratic contender.
3
One thing omitted here:
Justice Ginsburg in 2016 said when asked about Trump possibly winning the Presidency said she'd consider moving to New Zealand.
To her credit she later apologized.
2
Well, it is notoriously hard to immigrate to New Zealand, even for a Supreme.
Hmm, so he wants the Liberal judges to recuse themselves? Okay, then when all the 'religious liberty' cases come up, then the conservative judges outside Kavanaugh have to recuse themselves, especially if it involves Catholic Groups, since they are all conservative Catholics and it would be conflict of interest for a judge to rule on something that involves their church. How about Kavenaugh excluding himself when it comes to big business, given he was pretty much bought by well off donors clearing out his massive debt and the like. Oh, wait a minute, if you are a hard right conservative you aren't bound by that. Anyone remember when Scalia, a personal friend of Dick Cheney, was ruling on cases involving him?
2
Trump is aiming his remarks at his slowwitted voters for future reference in a lying effort to frame the Supreme Court as a government entity against THEIR elected president. Dangerous activity by Trump as he continues trying to isolate himself as a victim of the “deep state” out to get him.
4
I am not going to waste my time reading this article. I think all supreme court justices that are Trump supporters should recuse themselves. As we can see, there is a reason for his appointments.
3
It is clear that Trump not only wants, but intends to be a dictator. The GOP and the Attorney General lack the courage to stop him. He has attacked all levels of government , weeding out the professionals who speak the truth like the former head of the NSA, replacing him with a Trump hack, making them all temporary to avoid Congressional approval. Calling those who expose him traitors. He already has his State News, Fox who distort the truth and at times seem to be putting ideas in Trump's head, which he follows. Other examples of Trumps actions to destroy this country are legion.
The important point here is what one other wise person commented . Vote him out and don't stay home, because this will be the most important vote of your life. It's a vote to save our democracy and our country.
2
The founding principle of checks and balances is clearly a concept that is out of Dictator Trump's grasp.
2
@Just a Regular Guy
This has nothing to do with checks & balances.
1
My husband and I spotted a bumper sticker in the grocery parking lot yesterday that read: “Any Functioning Adult - 2020.” That about sums up how we will choose to vote for this year. As recovering former Republicans, we will be avoiding anyone with an “R” after his/her name.
8
Shouldn’t any justice who was appointed by Trump recuse themself? As well as any justice who’s wife is currently lobbying the Administration?
4
'Mr. Trump seized on a dissenting opinion last week by Justice Sonia Sotomayor ...old comment by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to demand that the two Democratic-appointed jurists recuse themselves from any cases involving him....the two justices ... hearing “anything having to do with “Trump or Trump-related.'
Shocking? Unfortunately Mr. Trumps attempts to circumvent justice are all too familiar. If I've learned anything, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a garbage can near her desk and will toss Mr. Trumps demands where it belongs! I've long thought her determination to survive her many battles with cancer, can largely be attributed to Mr. Trumps questionable endeavors into the dark side.
I pray that all the Supreme Court Justices realize and honor their contribution towards democracy in theses United States. If Mr. Trump were successful in his attempts to subvert the Supreme Court to his favor, the last hope for a moral compass will be irrevocably gone!
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Legitimate, ethical justices will support the rule of law and the Constitution. Trump only feels that justices "oppose" him because he is against those things, in violation of his own oath of office.
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It’s fine as long as they are not blatantly biased. Any worthy judge would do the right thing and recuse themselves if their personal biases prevent them from making sound judgements.
@John Doesn't matter if they are blatantly biased or not. The job of Justice means that they can place themselves above any bias and rule on it as it pertains to a matter of Law. I believe they even swear an oath to do that very thing.
The are suppose to rule on anything as a matter of our system of Laws.
Just because zippy the pinhead can't understand that concept doesn't mean others don't understand their rights and obligations under the LAW.
If these are, in fact, "Obama Judges" who this man feels have a conflict of interest, then please explain to me why it is okay that a "Trump Judge" (John Roberts) was able to preside over the impeachment hearings and allow those to run roughshod. He can't have it both ways. A judge swears an oath, similar to the one sworn by me, to the Country, the people, and the laws of the United States of America, not to some individual.
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"Elections have consequences." Why then does it seem illogical to me that six of the last seven presidential elections have given the popular vote to the Democratic Party candidate, but we seem to have a conservative majority on the SC?
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The ongoing immorality play called "the Trump Administration" keeps searching for never-Trumpers. It won't be stopped by anything other than a major election defeat, as the majority of the population now wears that label. Trump never understood he's merely one-third of the US Government, never read the Constitution and clings to the notion that our country should be renamed and reorganized as Trump Enterprises of America.
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Since the Supreme Court is made up of appointees from both parties their impartiality will always be questioned. If President Trump wants to choose who hears his cases he is in my opinion seeking to obstruct justice again. I'm sure that there is no limit on how many times he can be impeached since his apparent offences are numerous and cover a variety of high crimes and misdemeanors. Maybe the Democrats should have insisted that all Republicans recuse themselves from his last impeachment trial.
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