Chief Justice Roberts defends Gorsuch, Kavanugh after Schumer comments

Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement on Wednesday defending his newest colleagues, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned at a rally earlier in the day that the two Trump appointees would “pay the price” if they voted against reproductive rights activists.

“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,” Roberts wrote. “All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”

The statement directly named Schumer but did not name Gorsuch or Kavanaugh. The court heard arguments on Wednesday in the first major abortion case since Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joined the bench, one of the most high-profile disputes of the term. 

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!” Schumer said at a rally coordinated by the Center for Reproductive Rights around the arguments.

Justin Goodman, a Schumer spokesperson, said that the New York lawmaker’s comments referred to the “political price” Republicans will pay for confirming the two justices “and a warning that the justices will unleash major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.”

Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee, almost never issues statements. In 2018, Roberts issued a statement defending a federal judge who had been criticized by President Donald Trump as an “Obama judge,” writing that America does not have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”

“What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them,” he wrote at the time. 

Trump responded to Schumer’s comments late Wednesday, tweeting: “There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices. This is what Chuck Schumer just did. He must pay a severe price for this!”

A controversy last year over a friend-of-the-court brief filed by several Democratic lawmakers, who warned that the court should “heal itself” or face being restructured, prompted a response from all of the Republicans in the Senate.

“It’s one thing for politicians to peddle these ideas in Tweets or on the stump,” the senators wrote. “But the Democrats’ [friend-of-the-court] brief demonstrates that their court-packing plans are more than mere pandering. They are a direct, immediate threat to the independence of the judiciary and the rights of all Americans.”