Amazing times for courts, at the SCOTUS level and all other levels, federal and state.
“Chief Justice Defends Judicial Independence After Trump Attacks ‘Obama Judge’”
By Adam Liptak
Nov. 21, 2018
WASHINGTON —In a direct rebuke to President Trump, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. defended the independence and integrity of the federal judiciary on Wednesday, issuing a statement responding to Mr. Trump’s criticism of a judge who had ruled against the administration’s asylum policy.
The chief justice seemed particularly offended by Mr. Trump’s assertion that Judge Jon S. Tigar, of the United States District Court in San Francisco, was “an Obama judge.”
Chief Justice Roberts said that was a profound misunderstanding of the judicial role.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,”he said in a statement. “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.”
Chief Justice Roberts issued his statement in response to a request for comment from The Associated Press about Mr. Trump’s remarks on Tuesday concerning the asylum ruling, which ordered the administration to resume accepting asylum claims from migrants no matter where or how they entered the United States.