President Donald Trump said Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse themselves from any cases that involve Trump-related matters, citing statements they have made about him or his administration.
“I just dont know how they can not recuse themselves for anything having to do with Trump,” he said at a Feb. 25 press availability during his trip to New Delhi.
Sotomayor Comments
Regarding Sotomayor, Trump was referring to her Feb. 21 dissenting opinion, in which she made a remark that at least some people interpreted as political.
She criticized the countrys highest court for recently overruling a number of lower-court decisions that blocked Trumps policies, which some interpreted as accusing her colleagues of having a bias in favor of the administration.
“Perhaps most troublingly, the Courts recent behavior on stay applications has benefited one litigant over all others,” she said (pdf).
Trump called the statement “terrible” and “highly inappropriate.”
“The way I look at it, shes trying to shame people with perhaps a different view into voting her way,” Trump said.
Ginsburg Comments
Ginsburg, Trump said, should have recused herself years ago for her disparaging comments about him when he ran for office in 2016.
“She went wild during the campaign when I was running,” Trump said, suggesting the justice may have supported his then-opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “I dont know who she was for or perhaps she was for Hillary Clinton if you can believe it.”
In July 2016, shortly before the Republican National Convention, when Trump formally secured the nomination, Ginsburg gave three high-profile interviews in five days in which she made negative comments about Trump.
“He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego,” she told CNN, calling Trump a “faker.”
She also told The Associated Press she didnt “want to think about that possibility” of Trump winning the presidency.
“I cant imagine what this place would be—I cant imagine what the country would be—with Donald Trump as our president,” she told The New York Times. “For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be—I dont even want to contemplate that.”
The Epoch Times
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