Trump Explains Why He Regrets Nominating His Supreme Court Picks: 'It's Unfortunate What They Did'
President Donald Trump criticized the Supreme Court during a Time Magazine interview this week, arguing that his three nominees have failed to make good decisions for the country.
The interview, conducted at the White House Monday and released Thursday, covered a range of topics, including the Supreme Court striking down key Trump policies like his executive order on birthright citizenship and restrictions on mail-in ballots.
Trump was asked about comments he made last week concerning his nominees to the high court, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
“You said they were like shells of their former selves. Do you regret nominating them?”
“Yeah. Yeah. What can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often. I was very — I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often,” the president began. “They vote for me, too. The Democrats stick like glue — those three, they virtually never vary. You can come up with the worst thing in the world and they’ll vote as a group.”
“And while I don’t like it, there’s something I admire about it: there’s loyalty,” he continued. “So they have loyalty to Barack Hussein Obama. They have loyalty to Biden, even though Biden doesn’t even know who the hell they are. He wouldn’t know. He doesn’t even know what the Supreme Court is. And me, I gave them the chance of a lifetime, and it’s unfortunate what they did.”
“It’s unfortunate what they did—not to me, to our country. Birthright citizenship. It’s becoming a major industry now,” Trump added. “People are making millions and millions of dollars, and we’re losing trillions of dollars. And it’s become a corrupt business, all because of the Supreme Court decision. That decision was for the babies of slaves. Look at where it was—look at where it was approved.”
“It wasn’t for Chinese people, wealthy or unwealthy, coming, you know, pouring into our country. And this tariff decision again, all they had to do was a little clause saying any money paid does not have to be paid back … would have saved $400 billion,” he explained. “They chose not to save that.”
The commander in chief was also asked if he wanted “loyalty” when it came to Supreme Court nominees.
“I do like loyalty, yeah,” he replied.
“Is that what you want from your Supreme Court justices?” the president was asked again.
“No, I don’t want loyalty,” he shot back. “I want good decisions. The tariff decision was disastrous for the country. I want good decisions for the country … I put these people in. It is what it is. Very disappointing, very disappointing for the country — their decisions. And the country knows it. Very disappointing for the country. The other ones — they stick like glue. It’s unbelievable, right?”
Trump is correct in pointing out how conservative justices are more likely to cross ideological lines in major cases, while the court’s three liberal judges, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Jackson Brown, tend to vote as a bloc.
The president has also benefited, however, from the conservative supermajority, which struck down nationwide injunctions from lower court judges, expanded the power of the presidency, and gave his administration wide latitude on deportations and immigration practices, while providing Trump more power to fire federal employees.
On the flip side, he’s watched his own nominees provide critical votes that sank his tariff initiative, struck down his birthright citizenship order, blocked an attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and allowed mail-in ballots to arrive days after an election.
In addition, the court ruled against the Trump administration for withholding certain federal funds, terminating specific grants, and attempting to federalize the National Guard in Illinois.
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