Trump ignores the First Amendment and says those who criticize the Supreme Court should be tossed in jail
By Ariana Baio,
25 days ago
Donald Trump scolded those who critique the Supreme Court at a rally on Monday , saying people should be jailed for “the way they talk about our judges and our justices” – despite the First Amendment allowing people to criticize the government.
The former president, who has invoked his First Amendment right to launch a bevy of attacks against federal and state judges , suggested it should be “illegal” to rebuke judicial decisions or try and advocate in favor of a certain decision.
“It should be illegal, what happens,” Trump told a crowd in Pennslyvania. “You know, you have these guys like playing the ref, like the great Bobby Knight. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices, trying to get them to sway their vote, sway their decision.”
The former president was referring to the backlash the Supreme Court received after overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022. He called the court “very brave” for making a decision that “everybody wanted” – an unfounded claim.
Under the First Amendment, people have the right to complain about government officials and decisions.
Trump himself has been safeguarded by this rule when during his New York criminal trial, Trump called Justice Juan Merchan “highly conflicted.” When a gag order was placed on him, Trump violated it at least 10 times and then utilized his allies to launch more attacks against the judge.
In his federal election interference trial, the former president claimed District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan was “highly partisan” and “VERY BIASED & UNFAIR” because she warned him not to make inflammatory statements about the case.
Yet, the former president stood in front of a crowd of supporters on Monday evening to insinuate it is not appropriate to criticize the Supreme Court – which is comprised of lifetime appointed, not elected, justices.
Trump also criticized Democrats’ desire to “pack the court”, or appoint more judges, to balance the conservative-to-liberal ratio. He claimed Vice President Kamala Harris wants to make the court 25 justices – it is unclear where that figure originated.
Harris supports President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal which would authorize a president to appoint a new justice every two years to serve for 18 years. However, given Congress would need to approve the addition of justices, it is unlikely to happen.
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Sandy Solomon
5d ago
TRUMP is a convicted felon. Congress should protect our country. No one is above the law including the president of the US. He should be barred from running any Public office and president's should not be permitted to select judges since bias can occur.. The people should elect judges. Congress should have term limitations and go back to work after 2 terms so not bias to lobbying groups Trump wants to escape jail and our country deserves to elect officials who respect and uphold our constitution democracy is a precious gift. Trump to the Dump. He should not be, allowed to run. His staff had to plead with him to stop the rioters. America needs.to wake up before we loose our democracy.
Roseann Pokey
6d ago
well when is he going to jail. He's called just about everyone in the government names. so when does HE GO
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