I wrote about how President Trump is treating the judiciary. It’s like how he treats the media.
In 2016, Trump was asked why he persisted in going after journalists. In one of those sporadic moments in which he reveals the raw truth, Trump replied, “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”
That’s just what Trump has been doing with judges. Recall how he derided an Indiana-born federal judge as having an “absolute conflict” because he was “Mexican”—and thus “a hater of Donald Trump”—along with his recent attack on the judge in the Roger Stone case.
Now, Trump has turned his fire on the Supreme Court. He has demanded that Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor refrain from ruling on all things Trump. “Both should recuse themselves on all Trump, or Trump related, matters!” he tweeted.
The demand was a sham. The right way to seek recusal is with a motion laying out precise legal arguments. But Trump won’t do that with the justices, just as he didn’t do it with the judge in the Trump University case. No competent Supreme Court practitioner would ever file it.
Trump attacks judges for essentially the reason he attacks the media: to discredit and demean the courts, so that when they rule against him, no one will believe, or perhaps obey, them.
But in doing so, he attacks more than individual judges—he undermines the rule of law.
But in doing so, he attacks more than individual judges—he undermines the rule of law.
