Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts votes against President Donald Trump
Just hours after President Donald Trump was recorded complimenting him repeatedly on a hot mic, Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States voted against him. Given that Trump and his Supreme Court colleagues are required to maintain total independence and neutrality, there was much conjecture as to why Trump was praising Roberts.
The backdrop of rumors that Trump was praising Roberts for backing his second-term political agenda is altered by Roberts’ vote against him on whether to defund USAID, the assistance organization.
Justices of the Supreme Court are invited to attend Trump’s March 4 remarks to both houses of Congress.
Following his speech to Congress, Trump shook hands with the assembled senators, justices of the Supreme Court, and members of the House of Representatives, as is customary for presidents.
“Thank you again,” Trump said as he grasped Roberts’ hand. Again, thank you. I will never forget that.
Political analysts speculated widely about Trump’s motivation for praising Roberts since he was still wearing a microphone and his remarks could be plainly heard on TV networks that aired the address.
Roberts sided with the liberals in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, defeating Trump’s efforts to deny the government assistance agency USAID $2 billion in overdue payments. Amir Ali, a judge in Washington, D.C., had already halted Trump’s order.
Roberts and fellow conservative Amy Coney Barrett joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in supporting Ali’s decision in a 5-4 decision on Wednesday.
According to some analysts, Trump was expressing gratitude to Roberts, the top federal judge, for standing with him in Supreme Court rulings.
Adam Serwer, an editorial writer for The Atlantic magazine, wrote an article titled “Why Trump Thanked John Roberts,” which included the following statement: “The conservative justices are frequently accomplices to Trump’s assault on democracy.”
“We can’t know exactly what the president meant, but Trump has a lot to thank Roberts for,” Serwer wrote.
“After all, the chief justice and the other conservatives on the Supreme Court helped rewrite the Fourteenth Amendment, completely gutting the ban on insurrectionists holding office in order to allow Trump to run for president again following his attempt to seize power by force after the 2020 election.”
In Trump v. Anderson, decided on March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court upheld Donald Trump’s eligibility to run for president.
A group of activists from Colorado had argued that Trump was an “insurrectionist” due to his alleged involvement in the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that the 14th Amendment prohibited “insurrectionists” from holding federal office.
Trump clarified on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday that he was only expressing gratitude to Roberts for swearing him in as president on January 20, 2025. Trump took advantage of the occasion to criticize the media for their conjecture.
“The Fake ‘Play the Ref’ News, in order to create a divide between me and our great U.S. Supreme Court, heard me say last night, loudly and openly as I was walking past the Justices on the way to the podium, ‘thank you,’ to Chief Justice John Roberts,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“Like most people, I don’t watch Fake News CNN or MSDNC, but I understand they are going ‘crazy’ asking, what is it that I was thanking Justice Roberts for?”
By using the word MSDNC, Trump implies that the leftist MSNBC is affiliated with the Democratic National Committee, or DNC.
“I would have told these sleazebag ‘journalists’ that I thanked him [Roberts] for SWearing ME IN ON INAUGURATION DAY, AND DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB IN SO DOING!” Trump said if CNN or MSNBC had contacted the White House to inquire.
“The Fake News never quits!” Trump wrote. Trump’s executive orders have been subject to either temporary restraining orders or longer-term preliminary injunctions from at least 10 federal courts. The Supreme Court will probably hear several of such cases.
