In a new interview with Time, the president says Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch have voted against him too often, while praising Democratic-appointed justices for what he described as their loyalty.
President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he regrets nominating Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch, arguing that the three justices have ruled against him too frequently.
“They voted against me too often,” Trump told Time in an interview published Oct. 1. “I was very—I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often. They vote for me too.”
Trump nominated Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch to the Supreme Court during his first term to fill vacancies on the nation’s highest court. No Supreme Court vacancies have arisen so far during his second term. Supreme Court justices serve for life unless they step down.
Barrett, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, along with Justices Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas, were appointed by Republican presidents. The remaining three justices—Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor—were appointed by Democratic presidents.
“The Democrats stick like glue—those three, they virtually never vary,” Trump said. “You can come up with the worst thing in the world and they’ll vote as a group. And while I don't like it, there's something I admire about it: there's loyalty.”
Trump said Jackson, Kagan, and Sotomayor have shown loyalty to the presidents who appointed them. He said he does not want loyalty from the three justices he nominated, but he does expect what he considers to be good decisions.
Trump cited several Supreme Court rulings as examples of what he considers bad decisions. They include the court’s decision to strike down his executive order that excluded children of illegal immigrants and temporary visitors from birthright citizenship. Barrett and Kavanaugh were among the majority in that ruling.
He also pointed to the court’s ruling that some of his tariffs exceeded the authority granted under an emergency powers law. Barrett and Gorsuch joined the majority in that decision. The three justices appointed by Democratic presidents were part of the majority in both cases.
“I put these people in,” Trump said. “It is what it is. Very disappointing, very disappointing for the country—their decisions. And the country knows it. Very disappointing for the country. The other ones—they stick like glue. It's unbelievable, right?”
Trump’s latest remarks come about two weeks after he criticized the Supreme Court in a post on Truth Social following its rejection of a new mail-in-ballot rule.
“These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves,” Trump wrote.
The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment regarding that post. The court also did not return an inquiry seeking comment on Trump’s remarks to Time.
