Trump Criticizes His Supreme Court Nominees for 'Disappointing' Rulings

Former President Donald Trump has voiced significant disappointment with the three Supreme Court justices he appointed, citing their rulings on issues such as his tariffs and birthright citizenship as reasons for his dissatisfaction. In a recent interview with Time magazine, Trump stated that while he "gave them the position of a lifetime," the justices have "voted against me too often."

Trump contrasted his appointees with judges appointed by Democratic presidents, noting their perceived loyalty. "The Democrats stick like glue — those three, they virtually never vary," he 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. So they have loyalty to Barack Hussein Obama."

He extended this observation to judges appointed by President Biden, adding, "They have loyalty to Biden, even though Biden doesn’t even know who the hell they are... He doesn’t even know what the Supreme Court is. And me, I gave them the chance of a lifetime, and it’s unfortunate what they did."

Among the rulings that drew Trump's ire was a decision in February concerning tariffs. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett were part of the majority that voted to invalidate Trump’s 10% baseline tariff for most countries and a levy imposed on China, Mexico, and Canada for fentanyl smuggling. This decision entitled businesses to over $100 billion in refunds. Trump argued that a simple clause, allowing for money paid to not be returned, would have saved $400 billion, but the court "chose not to save that."

Trump also criticized a ruling related to birthright citizenship, which he described as having "become a major industry" and costing the country "trillions of dollars." He suggested the decision was being exploited by individuals not intended to benefit from it, citing wealthy Chinese individuals entering the country. Barrett voted with the majority to overturn Trump’s executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children of parents who are not citizens or legal residents. Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in part and dissented in part on that ruling.

This criticism follows a previous social media post by Trump on September 15, where he stated that his Supreme Court appointees were "not the people I interviewed." Despite his public grievances, Trump extended invitations to Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh, along with their spouses, to a state dinner on September 24 honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping, offering them four of the 134 tickets to the event.