On Wednesday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) condemned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) remarks attacking Supreme Court Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, arguing that Chief Justice John Roberts’ rare public statement pushing back against Schumer was “the right thing.”
“You can only be young once, but you can always be immature,” he said. “I’m very disappointed in Senator Schumer’s comments. They were juvenile. They were infantile. They were sophomoric. They were clearly a threat. I don’t know whether he meant impeachment or court-packing or something else. But Senator Schumer should apologize. His comments were beneath him and the high office that he holds. When you threaten Supreme Court Justices, you threaten the fair administration of justice. And I think Chief Justice Roberts did the right thing by calling his hand.
Kennedy maintained Schumer was within the boundaries of criticizing the high court but called on him to apologize for any insinuation of a threat.
“There’s nothing wrong with a public official, criticizing an opinion by the United States Supreme Court,” Kennedy continued. “There’s nothing wrong in appropriate cases for a public official or private individual if he, he or she thinks as bias to ask for recusal. But threats you’ll never know what hit you, you’ll pay the price, you will reap the whirlwind, that those, those threats are inappropriate, any threats are inappropriate. And, and I don’t know what Senator Schumer meant by the threats. I don’t know whether he was talking about impeaching Justice Gorsuch or Justice Kavanaugh. I don’t know whether he was talking about packing the court, but it was not appropriate. And, and it’s beneath Senator Schumer, and I hope he apologizes.”
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