Left: MIAMI, FL-MARCH 10: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson takes part in an evening event at the Chapman Conference Center at MDC Wolfson Campus on March 10, 2025, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA). Right: President Donald Trump addresses the topic of transgender weightlifters during his commencement speech at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart).
On Thursday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered a pointed critique of President Donald Trump and his supporters, criticizing their persistent criticisms of judges who have rendered decisions against the government.
Although she refrained from naming the former and current president directly, the court’s latest member directed her remarks at Trump and his backers. She spoke against “relentless attacks and disregard and disparagement” that judges nationwide, and likely many in the audience, endure regularly, as reported by Politico.
“It seems as though every time I read the news or turn on the television these days, I see the affronts,” Jackson reportedly said.
The recriminations came during an 18-minute address at the First Circuit Judicial Conference in Puerto Rico, which was not recorded, according to judicial transparency organization Fix the Court.
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While May 1, is internationally recognized as May Day, a labor holiday, the U.S. has long recognized the date as Law Day.
Jackson referenced the latter celebration in her remarks, saying she was “taking this point of personal privilege to reaffirm the significance of judicial independence and to denounce attacks on judges based on their rules,” according to The New York Times.
The scheduled subject matter of Jackson’s speech was her life and a recent memoir, according to multiple reports. Her comments critical of the environment judges currently face were not off the cuff, but, rather, prepared and written, the Times reported.
“Across the nation, judges are facing increased threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retaliation just for doing our jobs,” Jackson said. “And the attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
The attacks in question have come from the president on down in response to what Trump, White House staffers, and other pro-Trump voices see as judicial interference with their political goals.
In the still-early days of the second Trump administration, numerous policies have been pared down and paused altogether by various federal courts — from the district court level to the Supreme Court itself. In response: a torrent of calls for judges to be impeached.
In February, three articles of impeachment were filed against two district judges — Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer and Washington, D.C.-based Senior U.S. District Judge John Bates — following goading by Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk and others in posts on X (formerly Twitter).
In March, Trump himself took to social media to suggest D.C.-based Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg be removed from the bench. Two resolutions to sack Boasberg followed that request.
Then, Chief Justice John G. Roberts issued an exceedingly rare public statement. In a terse message relayed by the Supreme Court’s public information office, the George W. Bush-appointed justice — who is widely viewed as relentlessly concerned with the court’s legitimacy and legacy — said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Jackson’s recent comments make her the second member of the nation’s high court to speak out against the Trump administration — turning the public consternation into a bipartisan affair.
The latest-minted justice launched into her remarks by referring to “the elephant in the room,” a common metaphor used to describe a problem perceived as both obvious and uncomfortable to discuss.
“The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government,” Jackson said, according to Politico. “And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
The Biden-appointed justice bemoaned what kind of society she believed might result with such sustained attacks on the judiciary.
“A society in which judges are routinely made to fear for their own safety or their own livelihood due to their decisions is one that has substantially departed from the norms of behavior that govern a democratic system,” Jackson said during her keynote address, the Times reported. “Attacks on judicial independence is how countries that are not free, not fair, and not rule of law oriented, operate.”
The comments reportedly received a standing ovation.
In her remarks, she also offered a glint of hope. The justice referenced prior tough environments for judges during the Civil Rights Movement and Watergate — and how “judges have faced challenges like the ones we face today, and have prevailed,” Politico reported.
“I do know that loneliness. It is very stressful to have to decide difficult cases in the spotlight and under pressure,” Jackson said. “It can sometimes take raw courage to remain steadfast in doing what the law requires.”
