President Donald Trump has privately complained that the Supreme Court justices he appointed have not sufficiently stood behind his agenda, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations. But he has directed particular ire at Justice Amy Coney Barrett, his most recent appointee, one of the sources said.
The behind-closed-doors grievances have been wide-ranging, and while many have been about Barrett, Trump has also expressed frustration about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the sources familiar with the matter said. The complaints have gone on for at least a year, the sources said.
The presidentās anger, sources said, has been fueled by allies on the right, who have told Trump privately that Barrett is āweakā and that her rulings have not been in line with how she presented herself in an interview before Trump nominated her to the bench in 2020.
āItās not just one ruling. Itās been a few different events heās complained about privately,ā a senior administration official told CNN.
In a statement, principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said: āPresident Trump will always stand with the U.S. Supreme Court, unlike the Democrat Party, which, if given the opportunity, would pack the court, ultimately undermining its integrity. The President may disagree with the Court and some of its rulings, but he will always respect its foundational role.ā
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment.
The complaints about Barrett and other justices come as Trump wages an increasingly public battle with the judiciary and the conservative legal establishment over rulings that have gone against him. Last week, as Trump raged over a three-judge panelās decision against his tariff plan, he took aim at Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, who played a major role in helping Trump identify judges to put on the federal bench.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called Leo a āreal āsleazebagā ⦠a bad person, who in his own way, probably hates America.ā
Trumpās anger at Barrett predates his more recent frustration with judges he appointed. Many conservatives wereĀ apoplectic in MarchĀ when Barrett voted to reject Trumpās plan to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid. The backlash over that decision from some close to Trump was swift, with one conservative legal commentator describing her on a podcast as a ārattled law professor with her head up her a**.ā Others took to social media to describe her as a āDEI hireā and āevil.ā
That came on top of a decision before the inauguration in January that allowedĀ Trump to be sentencedĀ in his New York hush money case. Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, a fellow conservative nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, joined with the courtās three liberals to reach that decision. At the time, Trump brushed aside the ruling as a āfair decision,ā and Trump was ultimately sentenced without penalty.
But the anger in Trumpās orbit against Barrett appeared to intensify last month when the Supreme Court divided 4-4 in a high-profile case questioning whether aĀ Catholic charter school in OklahomaĀ should be entitled to taxpayer funding. Barrett recused herself from taking part in the case ā she had multiple ties to the attorneys representing the school ā and the even split left in place a ruling from Oklahomaās top court that found the school unconstitutional.
āIt seems this goes beyond her duty to recuse,ā Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, posted on social media, āwhich could have pernicious long-term consequences if other justices were to do the same.ā
Some of Trumpās allies have privately expressed the view that Barrettās rulings might have been shaped by menacing behavior and threats of violence directed at her family. In March, her sister was targeted with a bomb threat at her home in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. Trump has asked advisers and allies if they think Barrett needs more security, asking if that might make her more comfortable, the sources said.
While the president has privately expressed his displeasure with Barrett, a source close to Trump insists he does not want to attack her publicly. In March, after Barrett voted against Trumpās plan to cut foreign aid, Trump declined to criticize her publicly, telling reporters at the time, āSheās a very good woman. Sheās very smart, and I donāt know about people attacking her, I really donāt know.ā
āHe does truly respect the Supreme Court, so he doesnāt want to torch any of his appointees,ā one senior White House official told CNN. āHeās called on them as a group to rein in the lower courts and do the right thing, but has intentionally not attacked any of the Justices by name.ā
Much of the criticism from the right has overlooked the fact that Barrett remains a reliable vote for conservative outcomes at the Supreme Court. She did not dissent in recent cases allowing Trump to enforce hisĀ ban on transgender service members, end temporary deportationĀ protections for Venezuelans, fire board members atĀ independent agenciesĀ and cutĀ millions in education grants.
Barrett, a former law professor and appeals court judge who is publishing a book in September, voted with the courtās two most conservative justices ā Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito ā more than 80% of the time in the term that ended last year, according toĀ data compiled by the Empirical SCOTUS blog. She was slightly more likely to side with Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, two conservatives who are often viewed as sitting at the courtās ideological center.
Her decision to recuse in the Catholic school case was a factor in the schoolās loss, but the 4-4 split meant that one other member of the courtās conservative wing likely sided with the liberals. That case was also filed against the school by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a conservative Republican.
And yet Barrett is nevertheless one of theĀ most important justices to watchĀ because she does, at times, break with the more rigid conservativism embraced by Thomas and Alito. A year ago, when the Supreme Court was hearing arguments about whether to grant Trump sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution, it was Barrett who was at the center of some of the mostĀ compelling exchanges with Trumpās attorney. Barrett was one of several justices who prodded Trumpās attorney to agree that a presidentās āprivateā actions would not qualify for immunity.
But when the courtāsĀ decision landedĀ in July, Barrett ultimately sided with the courtās conservatives to grant immunity to Trump.