Trump rails against Supreme Court, court system and judge in social media posts

(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. court system in two posts on social media over the weekend, including disparaging a Supreme Court ruling over his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement tariffs.

He also took aim at a ruling by a U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday that blocked the Justice Department’s subpoenas as part of their criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

"The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood," Trump said on Sunday night.

The Supreme Court last month delivered a major blow to Trump by invalidating most of his global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term. In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court concluded that IEEPA did not give Trump the power to unilaterally impose tariffs because the Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to raise revenue from Americans.

Trump on Sunday night derided the high court's decision, claiming that the "Democrats on the Court always 'stick together,' no matter how strong a case is put before them."

Trump also took a dig at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term to the nation’s highest court, accusing them of going "out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how 'honest,' 'independent,' and 'legitimate' they are."

Notwithstanding the criticism, Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.

Trump claimed the court's decision on tariffs meant the U.S. "was unnecessarily RANSACKED" and called the court "a weaponized and unjust Political Organization."

"They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH," Trump wrote, seemingly acknowledging the potential backlash he might receive over his attacks.

Trump on the day after that ruling said he would raise those tariffs to 15%. Twenty-four states are suing the Trump administration over those duties, saying they're illegal because the president does not have the power to impose them.

Tariffs aside, the court's conservative majority ruled overwhelmingly in Trump's favor during this first year of his second term, approving nearly all of the administration's unprecedented number of emergency applications seeking a green light for government layoffs, federal funding freezes, expedited removal of immigrants, and expulsion of transgender military service members.

In 2024, the court extended sweeping immunity to Trump in the face of criminal prosecution, which Trump called a "big win for our Constitution and democracy" at the time.

In a second social media post, Trump claimed that the U.S. court system had singled him out and treated him and other Republicans in a politicized manner.

"The Courts treat Republicans, and me, so unfairly, always seeming to protect those who should not be protected," Trump said. "They are highly politicized. Cases don’t matter, the Judge does!"

He then blasted the Friday ruling by Boasberg, a top federal judge in Washington, that blocked the Justice Department from subpoenaing the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors after determining the government "produced essentially zero evidence" to support a criminal investigation of Powell, the Fed chair.

"How is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome 'Too Late' Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does?" Trump wrote.

Powell in January had rebuked the investigation, describing it in a video message as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed's interest rate policy.

The president on Sunday also attacked Boasberg, who authored the ruling.

"I strongly criticized Jerome 'Too Late' for his horrible performance throughout his tenure, which is either gross incompetence, total dishonesty, or both, and, in return for this well justified criticism, get viciously and wrongfully blamed by, as usual, a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been 'after' my people, and me, for years," Trump wrote.

"In case after case, Boasberg has displayed open, flagrant, and extreme partisan bias and contempt against Republicans and the Trump Administration," Trump added later in the post.

The president then called for Boasberg to be removed from cases related to Trump and his administration, claiming "he is exactly what Judges should not be!"

Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on Friday that Boasberg was an "activist" judge, adding that the Justice Department planned to appeal the ruling.

Following a previous round of Trump attacks on Boasberg last year, Roberts issued a rare public statement defending the judge and judiciary.

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