HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — President Donald Trump pressed his Supreme Court appointees for loyalty on Sunday.
He said in a soliloquy of a social media post about some of the conservative justices’ rulings against him that he wants obedience for national, rather than personal, reasons. Decisions against some of Trump’s major policies, like his tariffs, are harming the U.S., according to the president, who has become increasingly concerned about his legacy.
“I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people. What is the reason for this?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”
The National News Desk requested comment from the court but hasn’t received a response.
Two of Trump’s appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, voted earlier this year to invalidate his tariffs, which raised revenue for the U.S. but burdened Americans with higher costs and strained Washington’s alliances. The Supreme Court, part of a fragile system of checks and balances, ruled in a 6-3 decision that the president encroached on congressional authority.
“The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an opinion. “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.”
Trump questioned in his Truth Social post how to reconcile the votes of Gorsuch and Barrett.
“Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!” the president said. “Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide.”
Trump’s shadow over the court has grown this past year, during which he has flooded its emergency docket, posted scathing criticisms and become the first sitting president to attend oral arguments. The bench has green-lit many of the administration’s controversial policies, although Roberts has defended the court’s independence.
“I think, at a very basic level, people think we’re making policy decisions, we’re saying we think this is how things should be, as opposed to what the law provides,” the justice said last week. “I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.”
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