Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday said that personal criticism of judges is dangerous and urged prominent figures to dial down the rhetoric just days after President Donald Trump launched his most recent broadside against the Supreme Court.
Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, said in public remarks at Rice University in Houston that critiques of the substance of Supreme Court rulings are part of the job but that some more pointed comments have gone too far. He did not mention Trump specifically.
"The problem sometimes is that the criticism can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities. And you see from all over, I mean, not just any one political perspective on it, that it's more directed in a personal way, and that, frankly, can be actually quite dangerous," Roberts said.
"Personally directed hostility is dangerous and has got to stop," he added.
Federal judges have repeatedly warned about an increase in violent threats against judges in recent years.
One of the most outspoken recent critics of the Supreme Court is Trump, who has been particularly harsh about the ruling last month that invalidated his sweeping tariffs on foreign imports. This is despite the fact that the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has often ruled in his favor on other issues.
On Sunday night, Trump wrote a lengthy post on Truth Social again attacking the justices who ruled against him in the 6-3 ruling, one of whom was Roberts. Two of the three justices Trump appointed during his first term, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, also ruled against the tariffs.
"Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization," Trump said.
He described the court as "inept and embarrassing" and said the justices are "hurting our country." He also suggested the court wrongly turned away legal challenges that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
Trump, in a separate post on Sunday, also took aim at Washington-based Judge James Boasberg, who has angered administration officials with a series of rulings against the government. Most recently, he blocked a Justice Department probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Trump described Boasberg, who some Republicans want to impeach, as "Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control."
Roberts has previously warned critics of the courts to dial down the temperature and put out a statement last year defending Boasberg. But some lower court judges told NBC News last year that he was not doing enough to defend the judiciary.
