Trump spars with the chief judge on their views of the judges

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of the US judiciary, brutally reprimanding the president for denouncing a judge who dismissed his case. asylum policy of migrants as "Obama judge".

There is nothing like it, Roberts said Wednesday in a very strong statement contradicting Trump and defending judicial independence. Never silent for a long time, Trump defended his own comment, tweeting with defiance, "Sorry, Justice Roberts."

It was the first time that Roberts, the Republican-appointed federal judicial head of the judiciary, even offered an allusion to Trump's criticism, which has repeatedly criticized the federal judges who ruled it.

Until now, it was very unusual for a president to select judges for their personal criticism. And the challenge of a Chief Justice at the comments of a president is downright unprecedented in modern times.

It seemed like a battle that Trump would like but that Roberts took the trouble to avoid. However, Roberts' court sensing that the appointment of President Brett Kavanaugh by the President raged, Roberts and several of his colleagues did everything to refute the court's perceptions as a political institution divided between five conservative Republicans and four liberal democrats.

Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have themselves led to the contention that the courts are becoming more and more politicized. As a judge generally considered close to the court, Roberts could determine the outcome of high-profile cases that divide the court.

The new drama began with Trump's remarks Tuesday in which he sued a judge who had ruled against his asylum order for migrants. The president said, not for the first time, that the San Francisco-based federal court of appeal was biased against him.

Roberts had refused to comment on Trump's previous attacks on judges, including the Chief Justice himself. But Wednesday, after a request from the Associated Press, he spoke out for the independence of the federal judiciary and rejected the idea that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them .

"We have no Obama judges, no Trump judges, no Bush judges, no Clinton judges, we have an extraordinary group of dedicated judges who do their best to grant the same right to those who appear before them," he said. said Roberts.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, he concluded: "We should all be grateful for the independent judiciary".

Trump returned from his Florida home, questioning the independence of federal judges appointed by his predecessor and confirmed by the US Senate. He notably criticized the judges of the 9th Court of Appeal of the American circuit of California.

"Sorry, Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do have" Obama judges ", who have a very different perspective from the security people in our country," the president tweeted.

If the 9th circuit judges are independent, he explained, "why are there so many opposing (border and security) cases filed in this country, and why many of these cases are- they canceled? … these decisions make our country dangerous! " Very dangerous and imprudent! "

Trump has never hesitated to criticize the judicial system. Last year, the president scorned the "so-called judge" who made the first federal judgment against his travel ban. During the presidential campaign, he himself blamed Roberts for the 2012 Chief Justice's decisive vote to preserve President Barack Obama's health care system.

Trump also raised the case of a Mexican of Mexican origin, presiding over a lawsuit for fraud against Trump University, who would be unable to rule equitably because of his proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The president's remarks on Tuesday were heard when a journalist asked him to respond to a decision by US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco that put the asylum policy in place. pending administration. Under this new policy, Trump said no one could apply for asylum except at an official point of entry at the border. This tends to support migrants for weeks or even months. A number of migrants remain in Tijuana after traveling in a caravan to reach the United States.

Trump is complaining that his opponents are filing lawsuits in the seemingly liberal 9th ​​circuit in California. It is not unusual for those who challenge the policies of a president to sue the courts likely to support their claims. Conservative groups tended to question the policies of the Obama era in Texas, at the appeal court of the conservative-minded 5th American circuit in New Orleans.

"Every case filed in the 9th Circuit is defeated, then we have to go to the Supreme Court as a travel ban and we win," said Trump.

About the asylum decision, the president continued: "It was an Obama judge, and I will tell you what, it will not happen like this anymore."

The initial ban on travel in 2017 was made by US District Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush in Washington State. Roberts was also named by Bush.

We did not know what Trump meant when he said that things would change. The 9th Circuit is by far the largest of the federal courts of appeal, covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and the United States. Oregon and Washington state. Some Republicans of the Ninth Circuit states have proposed splitting the circuit in two, but the legislation has not yet advanced.

The court has long had a majority of judges appointed by the Democratic presidents, the current split being 16 to 7. But Trump has the opportunity to significantly reduce this advantage because there are six vacancies and he has already nominated candidates for five of them.