President Donald Trump makes disparaging remarks against the U.S Supreme Court justices during a press briefing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, February 20, 2026. That morning, the Supreme Court ruled the president exceeded authority when issuing sweeping emergency tariffs using a law reserved for national emergency. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Insults of U.S. Supreme Court justices by President Donald Trump are “wholly inappropriate” and undermine the rule of law in the United States, the American Bar Association said Monday, as it continues to call on the president to refrain from targeting the U.S. justice system for issuing rulings he disagrees with.
“The recent remarks by the president of the United States, leveling personal criticisms against members of the U.S. Supreme Court, are not acceptable and cross a dangerous line that threatens the safety of the judiciary and our judicial process,” ABA President Michelle Behnke said in a statement.
“Such statements risk undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in an impartial judiciary, foundational pillars of our democracy that have guided our nation since its founding.”
While judicial opinions are subject to critique, personal attacks are “wholly inappropriate,” Behnke said, stating that such incendiary rhetoric has helped to contribute to the increase of threats and attacks targeting judges.
“It must stop,” Behnke said.
The courts and the judiciary system have been a target of Trump and his allies, who have made disparaging comments against judges who rule against him.
Since the Supreme Court on Friday ruled 6-3 that Trump exceeded his authority in imposing sweeping global tariffs, the president has been disparaging the high court. In a social media post on Monday, Trump said the justices should be “ashamed of themselves” and that their decision was a “ridiculous, dumb and very internationally divisive ruling.”
During a press conference held following the ruling, Trump railed against the six justices who ruled against him while praising the three who didn’t.
“They’re against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They also are a, frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices,” Trump said, referring to the three Democrat president-appointed justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Concerning John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch and Coney Barrett — the three Republican president-appointed justices who voted against Trump’s tariffs — the president called them “fools and lapdogs for the RINOs and the left Democrats” and who are “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”
“They don’t want to do the right thing. They’re afraid of it,” he said, alleging that they were “swayed by foreign interests.”
Behnke said these specific comments “threaten to erode public confidence in the judiciary.”
“The American Bar Association calls upon all leaders, including the president of the United States, to exercise restraint in public discourse concerning the judiciary,” Behnke said.
“We urge fellow bar associations to defend the critical work of our courts and all Americans to uphold the principles of respect, civility and the rule of law that sustain our democratic institutions.”
Amid the Trump administration’s second term, the ABA has repeatedly warned Trump and other high-ranking officials and members of his party to refrain from targeting members of the judiciary, including judges, lawyers and the court itself.
