Two senior Republicans asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday to shut down lower federal judges who have been carping over how the courts have been handling Trump-related cases, saying they are undermining the integrity of the judiciary.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairmen of the two chambers’ judiciary committees, said judges have been making anonymous statements to reporters complaining about the Trump cases and the Supreme Court’s handling of them.
The two lawmakers called the comments “inflammatory” and said they could represent violations of judges’ ethics code.
“We are deeply concerned that these public attacks on the court from sitting federal judges damage the public’s faith and confidence in our judicial system. When judges call into question the legitimacy of their own branch of government, they erode faith in the institution itself,” they said.
They cited news stories by The New York Times and NBC News that quoted judges, all without being named, who said they were dismayed by the way the Supreme Court was handling the flood of Trump-related litigation.
The president has largely prevailed in early rulings, lifting lower court blockades that had prevented him from carrying out firings and pursuing expansive deportations.
Lower judges cited in the articles said the justices, while issuing interim rulings on the so-called emergency docket that benefited President Trump, weren’t giving much explanation for their decisions. That has left lower courts wondering how to apply those decisions in other Trump cases.
NBC reported that one judge said the Supreme Court was “effectively assisting the Trump administration in ’undermining the lower courts.’”
One judge told The New York Times the district courts’ relationship with the high court had become a “war zone.”
Mr. Grassley and Mr. Jordan said those comments appear to undermine confidence in the judiciary, which judges are forbidden to do under their code of conduct. The lawmakers also said the fact that the criticism came on Trump-related cases could violate the rule barring judges from commenting on “a matter pending or impending in any court.”
“While we do not yet know the full extent of the comments or who the judges are, we remain convinced that judges should not be going to the press to undermine and denigrate the Supreme Court,” they wrote.
The chairmen asked Chief Justice Roberts to report to Congress whether he’s ordered an investigation into the judges or issued any cautions over the behavior.
The chief justice has not been shy about issuing similar cautions to those outside the judiciary in the past, including a striking retort to Mr. Trump earlier this year tamping down on impeachment talk.
And in Mr. Trump’s first term, the chief justice chided the president for complaining about “Obama judges” who were derailing his agenda.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them,” the chief justice said in 2018.
The letter came as the Supreme Court was hearing oral argument Wednesday in cases challenging Mr. Trump’s claim of expansive tariff powers.
Lower courts ruled that the president had overstepped the limits Congress placed on him to impose tariffs on foreign goods.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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