Ketanji Brown Jackson

Associate Justice, The Supreme Court of the United States

Trump’s attacks on federal judges “ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
– SCOTUS Justice Hon. Ketanji Brown Jackson

The United States is proud to proclaim that it is a “government of laws, not of men,” with “one rule of justice for rich and poor.” Yet it can only remain so if its judges are allowed to do their jobs without being threatened. This is a truth that the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, is willing to voice. She has clearly named the “elephant in the room” and denounced the Trump administration’s attacks on federal judges, stating that “the threats and harassment [of judges] are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government and they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”

Speaking at a judicial conference, Judge Jackson received a standing ovation as she related the Trump administration’s judiciary attacks and threats of both physical violence and professional retaliation and their effect on judges. The US Constitution carefully delineates three branches of government and their prerogatives – the executive, legislative, and judicial branches – a division that creates America’s unique system of checks and balances. Trump’s attacks are an attempt to appropriate the judicial branch’s power and transfer it to the executive branch. If he succeeds, then laws will be applied only at the behest of the president, and the “one rule of justice for rich and poor” will collapse, Jackson stressed in her remarks.

Since Trump’s inauguration, more and more judges have blocked his administration’s policies on tariffs, deportations, and free speech – among many other issues. In response, the Trump administration has intensified its attacks, and Trump has used social media to label federal judges as enemies of his agenda. On May 28, Trump advisor Stephen Miller said on X, “The judicial coup is out of control”; his repeated use of the term “judicial tyranny” has been countered by legal scholars.

Upholding the rule of law in the face of retaliation

The judiciary threats continue to escalate: the US Marshals Service data shows 162 judges were threatened in March and early April as challenges to Trump’s policies made their way through the courts.

When the US Court of International Trade blocked Trump’s imposition of tariffs, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement: "It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.” In response, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) said they brought the case "because the Constitution doesn't give any president unchecked authority to upend the economy."

In March, when Judge James Boasberg ruled against Trump on deportations, Trump called him a “Radical Left Lunatic,” and called for his impeachment. His family received death threats, and some online posts called for his execution.

Trump went so far as to arrest one judge accused of shielding an immigrant from deportation arrest. In April, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI and charged with helping an undocumented immigrant who had appeared in her courtroom and was told to use a side door to leave – allowing him to avoid arrest by immigration agents who were waiting outside the courtroom. They caught the individual out in the street. Dugan entered a not guilty plea at a brief court appearance on May 15 and has remained free on her own recognizance. Her trial was set for July.

“The Rule of Law depends upon lawyers being free to advocate for all causes, to represent those in need of legal representation, and to challenge government actions that may violate statutory and constitutional norms,” the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) said, in response to a series of Trump Executive Orders  that accused several prominent private law firms of being a danger to national security. “When government retaliation is grounded in efforts to punish lawyers for the parties that they represent or the positions that they assert, our system of justice is undermined. These Executive Orders must be condemned,” argued the ACTL.

For her part, Justice Jackson warns of the danger: “The attacks are also not isolated incidents … 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.” 

Added Justice Jackson: “A society in which judges are routinely made to fear for their own safety or their own livelihood due to their decisions is one that has substantially departed from the norms of behavior that govern a democratic system. Attacks on judicial independence is how countries that are not free, not fair, and not rule of law oriented, operate.”

Her willingness to speak out from the highest court and uphold the rule of law makes her an especially powerful patriot, given that the judiciary – and especially the Supreme Court – represents a critical line of defense against Trump’s effort to rule with impunity.