Editor’s Note: Adapted from “NINE BLACK ROBES: Inside the Supreme Court’s Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences,” by Joan Biskupic, published by William Morrow.
Some Supreme Court justices thought Donald Trump was setting them up. Two days after the official swearing-in of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018, the president arranged a televised ceremony at the White House and invited all the justices.
Justices had declined to attend similar White House events under previous presidents, resisting the optics that would conflict with separation of powers. This time, they especially worried about being used for political purposes and were concerned that an appearance by the full contingent of sitting justices could look like an endorsement of the president. But the White House
In the end, their concerns were justified. Most of the justices sat stone-faced, disturbed by what Trump said during the event and by being unwitting participants in a political exercise.
Trump had a way of ensnarling the court in politics, fomenting rhetoric of personal destruction and conspiracy, all the while generating challenges to the rule of law.
Even today at this historic moment, as the ex-president faces criminal charges in Manhattan, one of Trump’s first responses involved attacking the judge who will preside over his initial proceedings. Trump’s terms of aggrievement and personal affront (“HATES ME”) were familiar.
Trump wrote in a social media post Friday on Truth Social: “The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME. His name is Juan Manuel Marchan, was hand picked by Bragg & the Prosecutors, & is the same person who ‘railroaded’ my 75 year old former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, to take a ‘plea’ deal (Plead…
Read the full article here