Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., drew swift
criticism for seeming to praise and criticize Chief Justice John
Roberts. (Reuters)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was
quickly mocked Friday after praising Chief Justice John Roberts of the
U.S. Supreme Court for rebuking President Trump’s recent “Obama judges”
comment -- while at the same time slamming Roberts’ “partisan
decisions.”
“I don’t agree very often with Chief Justice Roberts,
especially his partisan decisions which seem highly political on
Citizens United, Janus, and Shelby,” the Democrat wrote in a Twitter
message. “But I am thankful today that he — almost alone among
Republicans — stood up to President Trump and for an independent
judiciary.”
Critics on social media and elsewhere pointed out that
in issuing a two-sided response to the Trump-Roberts exchange, Schumer
was effectively agreeing with the president, who had criticized the
courts for partisanship.
Some wondered whether Schumer had even recognized the mistake.
“I
wonder if Chuck realizes how he's contradicting himself and proving
Trump's point in this statement? I doubt it,” Twitter user Derek Hunter.
wrote.
TRUMP SLAMS CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS, INSISTS THERE ARE ‘OBAMA JUDGES’
“So
Schumer rips the Judiciary as being partisan in the same tweet that he
praises Roberts for responding to Trump for criticizing the judiciary as
being partisan... Stunning!” another user on social media commented.
Ross Douthat of the New York Times went on to lampoon the Democrat.
“Shorter
Chuck Schumer: Trump is totally right about the courts, except when
Republican appointees criticize him; then the judiciary is Independent
and Good,” the conservative columnist wrote.
Schumer’s backhanded
compliment came amid a war of words between Trump and Roberts, with the
president criticizing the so-called “judicial activism” of federal
judges who halt decisions made by the executive branch, a common
occurrence under the Trump administration.
The criticism was
prompted after U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar, who was nominated by
President Obama in 2012 to the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, issued a temporary restraining order late Monday
against Trump's plan to refuse asylum to immigrants who cross the
U.S.-Mexico border illegally if they do not arrive at a port of entry.
“You
go to Ninth Circuit and it's a disgrace, and I'm going to put in a
major complaint. Because you cannot win, if you're us, a case in the
Ninth Circuit,” Trump said. “Every case gets filed in the Ninth Circuit.
... We get beaten, and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court
-- like the travel ban and we won. We're gonna have to look at that.”
"We
do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton
judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing
their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."
— Chief Justice Roberts
In response, Roberts issued a rare criticism of the president.
“We
do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton
judges,” he said in a Wednesday statement provided to Fox News. “What we
have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level
best to do equal right to those appearing before them."
Roberts added: “That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
But
the statement from the chief justice only prompted Trump to double-down
on his criticism of the judiciary, saying the courts aren’t as
independent as Roberts makes them out to be.
“Sorry Chief Justice
John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges,’ and they have a
much different point of view than the people who are charged with the
safety of our country,” Trump tweeted.
“It would be great if the
9th Circuit was indeed an ‘independent judiciary,’ but if it is why are
so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why
are a vast number of those cases overturned,” Trump continued. “Please
study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security -
these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!”