Chief Justice John Roberts is facing backlash from conservatives following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on Thursday rejecting President Trump’s efforts to end DACA.
On Thursday morning, Roberts joined the court’s liberals in issuing a 5-4 ruling that rebuked Trump by rejecting his administration’s efforts to end legal protections for 650,000 young undocumented immigrants.
The President did not take the Supreme Court’s latest ruling lightly. Shortly after the order was issued, Trump ripped into the DACA decision as well as the court’s ruling earlier this week upholding workplace protections for LGBTQ individuals, tweeting that both rulings are “shotgun blasts” to people who are “proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives.”
Several prominent conservatives soon hopped on the bandwagon by taking particular aim at Roberts. Both the chief justice and Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch have faced backlash from conservatives following the landmark ruling for LGBTQ rights earlier this week, which included justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh issuing scathing dissents.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Cotton — a rising star in the Republican Party, especially following the uproar over his “Send In the Troops” op-ed in the New York Times earlier this month — reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision on DACA by mockingly suggesting that Roberts resign and travel to Iowa to get elected, according to CNN’s Manu Raju.
More GOP outrage at Roberts over DACA. Tom Cotton: “If the Chief Justice believes his political judgment is so exquisite, I invite him to resign, travel to Iowa, and get elected. I suspect voters will find his strange views no more compelling than do the principled justices”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 18, 2020
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Jordan tweeted that Roberts “does it again” following the court’s decision on DACA, warning that gun rights could be gutted next.
Chief Justice Roberts does it again.
First, Obamacare. Now, DACA.
What’s next?
Our second amendment gun rights?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) June 18, 2020
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
On Thursday afternoon, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to the Senate floor to accuse Roberts of “playing games.”
“Judging is not a game,” Cruz said. “It’s not supposed to be a game, but sadly over recent years more and more, Chief Justice Roberts has been playing games with the court to achieve the policy outcomes he desires.”
.@SenTedCruz: "Today's decision from the U.S. Supreme Court…is disgraceful. Judging is not a game. It's not supposed to be a game, but sadly over recent years more and more Chief Justice Roberts has been playing games with the Court to achieve the policy outcomes he desires." pic.twitter.com/SXojMAF9vU
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 18, 2020
Carrie Severino, president of the conservative activist PAC Judicial Crisis Network
Severino ripped into Roberts in a series of tweets arguing that “this is a bad case of deja vu.”
This is nothing more than a double standard. It should have been straightforward that the Trump administration had the discretion to take executive action to undo executive action that was unlawful from the start. (2/x)
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) June 18, 2020
This is a bad case of déjà vu from the Court's decision in the census case a year ago.
Chief Justice Roberts once again has failed to stand up for the institutional interests of the Court by allowing it to be weaponized for partisan ends. (4x)
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) June 18, 2020
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)
Although he didn’t specifically call out Roberts, Sasse said in a statement that “this is what happens when you don’t have a functioning Congress.”
“We’re not doing our work so the Court again steps in and declares itself America’s Super-Legislature,” Sasse said. “It’s bad news for civic health that the Court regularly flexes legislative muscle it doesn’t have under our Constitution.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee member added that although he believes that immigrant children who came to the U.S. years ago “shouldn’t live in fear of deportation,” he argued that the solution “should be done via legislation.”
“We need a law that gives us both border security and common sense immigration policy — and legislation comes from Congress, not the Court,” Sasse said.
Acting Deputy Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli
Cuccinelli also did not directly blast Roberts, but shared a sarcastic criticism in a Thursday afternoon tweet.
I used to use #SCOTUS… I think after today’s rulings, I’m going to start typing it like this: #scotus. We need more good Justices.
— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) June 18, 2020
