President Trump on Thursday continued to respond to a rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, saying Roberts “can say what he wants” while defending his criticism of the federal judiciary following a ruling against his administration this week.
“Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster,” Trump wrote on Twitter, calling the San Francisco–based court of appeals “out of control.” He also said “there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death” unless law enforcement can “DO THEIR JOB.”
Trump issued the response after sending a pair of other tweets defending his response to Saudi Arabia this week over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and wishing a “HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!”{mosads}
The president prompted a rebuke from the chief justice this week after he went after a federal judge in California who ruled against his administration’s asylum policy. Trump dismissed the U.S. district judge who issued the ruling as “an Obama judge” while defending his administration’s policy.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts responded in a rare statement released by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
“That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for,” the chief justice added in the statement, which came a day before Thanksgiving.
Trump rejected the criticism on Wednesday afternoon.
“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,” he tweeted.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar on Monday had sided with opponents of the Trump administration policy prohibiting certain immigrants from claiming asylum, granting their request for a temporary restraining order.
Trump blasted the ruling the following day while not referring to the judge by name but calling him “an Obama judge.”
Tigar was appointed to the federal bench by the former president in 2012.
Trump went after the judge at the White House while railing against the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases appealed by the district court in California.