Trump v. The Supreme Court

Susan Estrich
Fri, 20 Mar 2026 23:00:00 -0700
Opinion

President Donald Trump has a problem with the Supreme Court, which finally said no to him on tariffs. He doesn't like an independent judiciary. He thinks Justices should do what the president who appointed them wants. He thinks the Founding Fathers were wrong. And the Constitution.

"The decision that mattered most to me," he wrote this week on Truth Social, "was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades. Our Supreme Court has made these Countries very happy."

They've made the president very unhappy. He blamed it on the Republican-appointees. "The Democrats on the Court always 'stick together,' no matter how strong a case is put before them — There is rarely even a minor "waver." But Republicans do not do this. They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how "honest," "independent," and "legitimate" they are. The Democrat Justices just vote Democrat — They always stick together!"
Updated: Sat Mar 21, 2026

President Donald Trump has a problem with the Supreme Court, which finally said no to him on tariffs. He doesn't like an independent judiciary. He thinks Justices should do what the president who appointed them wants. He thinks the Founding Fathers were wrong. And the Constitution.

"The decision that mattered most to me," he wrote this week on Truth Social, "was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades. Our Supreme Court has made these Countries very happy."

They've made the president very unhappy. He blamed it on the Republican-appointees. "The Democrats on the Court always 'stick together,' no matter how strong a case is put before them — There is rarely even a minor "waver." But Republicans do not do this. They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how "honest," "independent," and "legitimate" they are. The Democrat Justices just vote Democrat — They always stick together!"

The thing is, Supreme Court Justices are supposed to be honest, independent and legitimate. Many critics of this court will argue that its conservative majority has not been independent enough. But for Donald Trump, those are dirty words.

In the constitutional scheme, an independent judiciary is essential to the checks and balances on the abuse of executive power. The reason federal judges, including Supreme Court Justices, are appointed for life and can only be removed by Congressional impeachment is to protect the independence that Donald Trump laments. Were it otherwise, he would simply replace "his" Justices who voted against him.

"Our Country," Trump writes, "was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization."

Does he not see that the whole thrust of his criticism is that the court is not political enough, that he has not been completely successful in weaponizing it, as he has the Department of Justice, to do his bidding? He actually believes that those he appointed should be loyal not to the Constitution but to him. His version of a Supreme Court is yet another subservient branch of his administration. It is not a third branch of government.

Trump concluded his rant by harking back to the court's original sin, in his book, which was not overturning the 2020 results: "The sad thing is, they will only get worse! They wouldn't even call out The Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, because they said that I, as President of the United States, did not have "standing" to challenge it and now, with time, it has been conclusively proven to be stolen — And look what happened to our wonderful Nation by allowing a grossly incompetent man, Sleepy Joe Biden, to be our "President." This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be. They are hurting our Country and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH."

Trump's attack on the Supreme Court comes on the heels of Chief Justice John Roberts' warning about the dangers of personal attacks on judges, which has been a specialty of this administration. The rule of law depends on public respect for the decisions of the judiciary and for the men and women who make those decisions. So does their safety. Attacks on the Court as "completely inept and embarrassing" eat away at that respect and undermine the rule of law.