President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening slammed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for threatening conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and demanded “serious action” be taken immediately against the top congressional Democrat.
“This is a direct & dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme Court by Schumer. If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW!” the president tweeted, sharing a video clip of Schumer’s remarks via Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Earlier Wednesday, Schumer warned in a fiery speech outside the Supreme Court that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh will “pay the price” if they vote against pro-choice advocates in a high-profile abortion case.
The New York Democrat threatened:
Over the last three years, women’s reproductive rights have come under attack in a way we haven’t seen in modern history. From Louisiana, to Missouri, to Texas, Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they’re taking away fundamental rights. I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions.
Schumer made the warning while the Supreme Court heard a challenge to a Louisiana law which requires doctors who perform abortions to possess hospital admitting privileges. Kavanaugh has signaled that he is open to ruling that the state’s abortion law is constitutional, reports the Washington Examiner.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare rebuke of Schumer’s threat, calling it both “inappropriate” and “dangerous” for a leading lawmaker to utter.
Roberts said in a rare statemen:
Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.
Justin Goodman, a spokesperson for Schumer, responded to Roberts by accusing him of adopting the “right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation” of the Senate Minority Leader’s comment, “while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg last week.” Further, the spokesman then stated that Roberts’ condemnation illustrates that he does “not just call balls and strikes.”
Last week, President Donald Trump argued Sotomayor and Ginsburg should recuse themselves from cases involving his administration over their previous criticisms of him and his policies. “I just don’t know how they can not recuse themselves for anything having to do with Trump or Trump-related,” he said at the time.