[Trump Tariffs Unlawful] "Pets of Radical Democrats"... Trump Lashes Out at Supreme Court Justices

Harsh criticism for the six justices in the majority opinion
Praise and "gratitude" for the three in the minority opinion

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Donald Trump administration's "reciprocal tariffs" were unlawful, President Donald Trump unleashed criticism against the six justices who joined the majority opinion.

Yonhap News Agency

On the 20th (local time), at a press conference held at the White House after the ruling in the case of "Running Resources v. Trump," President Trump said, "I am ashamed of some members of the Court. It is truly shameful that they do not have the courage to do what is right for our country."

At present, the ideological balance of the U.S. Supreme Court leans conservative by 6 to 3. However, in this case, the views of the six conservative justices were split exactly in half.

He went on to say, "They are making fools of themselves and acting like pets of the RINOs (a pejorative term for moderate Republicans meaning 'Republican In Name Only') and the radical left Democrats."

President Trump also said, "In my view, the Court has been swayed by foreign interests." He did not answer when asked to explain what he meant by that remark.

When asked whether he regretted appointing Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the majority opinion in this case, President Trump again did not respond, but he criticized their unlawful finding by saying, "It is something they should be ashamed of to their families and to each other."

The six justices who concluded that the reciprocal tariffs were unlawful are Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion of the Court, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who joined it. Some of them also wrote separate opinions that reached the same conclusion but offered different reasoning and lines of argument from the majority.

On the same day, President Trump praised Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh, who issued a minority opinion finding the reciprocal tariffs lawful, saying, "I thank them for their backbone, their wisdom, and their love of our country."

All three justices were appointed by Republican presidents and have long been regarded as strongly conservative and strongly supportive of the Republican Party. In this case as well, they issued an opinion favorable to President Trump, as expected. Thomas was appointed in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush, Alito in 2006 by President George W. Bush, and Kavanaugh in 2018 by President Trump.

In his dissent in this case, joined by Thomas and Alito, Justice Kavanaugh criticized the majority opinion, pointing out that "there was no discussion (in the opinion) about whether the government must return billions of dollars, and if so, how it must do so," and adding that "the process will be a mess."