Supreme Court’s Jackson Rips ‘Relentless Attacks’ on Judges (1)

US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denounced what she called “relentless attacks” on the federal judiciary, saying efforts to intimidate judges were threatening the Constitution and the rule of law.

“The attacks are not random,” Jackson told a group of federal judges and lawyers at a conference in Puerto Rico on Thursday night. “They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”

The remarks were the most forceful yet from a Supreme Court justice amid a litany of disparaging comments from President Donald Trump and his aides about judges who have ruled against the administration. Trump derided one judge as a “Radical Left Lunatic” and called for his impeachment after he tried to pause the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans.

Read More: Veteran US Judges Slap Back at GOP Calls for Impeachment

Jackson didn’t directly mention Trump in her comments. But she described the wave of denigrating comments toward judges as “the elephant in the room” as she delivered prepared remarks before sitting down for a conversation about her life and career with a federal judge for whom she once served as a law clerk.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/dpa/AP Photo

“The attacks are also not isolated incidents,” Jackson said. “That is, they impact more than just individual judges who are being targeted. Rather, the threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government and they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”

The threats have included hundreds of pizzas delivered to the homes of judges and their adult children — a symbolic taunt that where they live is not a secret. Some were sent in the name of the murdered son of US District Judge Esther Salas, who described the incidents last month at an online event aimed at addressing the worsening threat landscape for the judiciary.

Earlier in April, a man pleaded guilty to attempting to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022. Nicholas John Roske was accused of arriving at Kavanaugh’s suburban Maryland home with a Glock 17 handgun, ammunition, zip ties, crow bar and other tactical gear.

Chief Justice John Roberts will have his own chance to address the issue in the coming weeks when he makes two public appearances, the first on May 7 in Buffalo, New York.

Roberts said in a report in December that violence, intimidation and threats to defy lawful judgments pose a threat to judicial independence. In March, after Trump called for a judge to be impeached, Roberts issued a rare press statement to say impeachment was “not an appropriate response” to disagreement with judicial rulings.

Jackson’s remarks drew a standing ovation from attendees at the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals conference. She urged her fellow jurists to stand strong in the face of intimidation.

“It can sometimes take raw courage to be steadfast in doing what the law requires,” she said.

(Updates with context on threats starting in sixth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg

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