Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest member of the Supreme Court, denounced on Thursday what she described as “ruthless attacks” on judges, and an intimidation environment that “ultimately runs the risk of undermining our constitution and the rule of law.”
“Throughout the country, judges are confronted with more threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retribution only for doing our work,” said Justice Jackson, speaking at a conference for judges in Puerto Rico. “And the attacks are not random. They seem to be designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
Justice Jackson did not mention President Trump by name or did not mention specific attacks on the judges of the nation. However, her comments came when Mr. Trump and his allies repeatedly focused on judges who have blocked important pieces of his agenda, even called to judges who have ruled against him to be deposed.
Who pulled calls A rare reprimand from supreme judge John G. Roberts Jr. In March, who described them as “no appropriate answer to a disagreement about a judicial decision.”
Threats of physical violence against judges are also on the rise, with judges who are confronted with bomb threats and an eruption of delivery of anonymous pizzas, a joke that is apparently designed to send a message that their home addresses can be found.
The powerful comments of Justice Jackson were rare for justice. Since she came to the court in 2022, she has aimed many of her public performances on telling the Personal story From her rise to become the first black woman of the Supreme Court.
A Remarkable appearance Came in 2023, when she spoke from the pulpit of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham less than three months after the Supreme Court beaten Infinitable action in higher education and offered explicit nod to its own role in history.
But on Thursday she opened her comments for a ballroom full of judges, lawyers and lawyers by saying that she wanted to address ‘the elephant in the room’.
She noted that individual judges of the court – some of whom have received important cases that deal with Mr Trump’s actions and have confronted attacks for their work – have to do with special pressure in the legal system.
“It can sometimes cost raw courage to stay steadfast in doing what the law requires,” she said.
Before her increase in the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court, Justice Jackson served on the bank of the Washington court with judge James E. Boasberg, who was a special target of Mr Trump’s anger because of his statements that wanted to block the deportation of Venezuelan migrants. The two were also neighbors.
Justice Jackson criticized the targeting of judges for doing their work, and said those attacks have a larger, more structural impact on the democratic system.
“A society in which judges are routinely made to fear for their own safety or their own livelihood because of their decisions, there is considerably deviated from the behavioral standards that rule a democratic system,” said Justice Jackson during her participation as a keynote speaker on the first Circuit Judicial Conference. “Attacks on judicial independence are how countries that are not free, not fair and not the rule of law, work.”
She noted that May 1 is the National Law Day, which was marked elsewhere by Demonstrations of lawyers Protest against Mr Trump’s attack on the legal profession. Because of the occasion, she said, “she was” this point of personal privileges to re -confirm the meaning of judicial independence and to denounce attacks on judges based on their rules. “
Justice Jackson devoted most of her address to a less formal discussion about her life and her memoirs released last year. But she was prepared with written comments about the rule of law that she said she wanted to tackle first.
“Having an independent judiciary – defined as judges who are indifferent to incorrect pressure and determining and determining every case according to the rule of law – is one of the most important ingredients that makes a free and honest society work, she said.
Justice Jackson’s comments were greeted with a standing ovation.
Abbie -buses contributed reporting.
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