Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday lashed out at Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for issuing a rare statement about President Trump, accusing him of staying silent when former President Barack Obama was publicly critical of the court’s Citizens United decision.
“Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Trump for a comment he made abt judge’s decision on asylum I don’t recall the Chief attacking Obama when that Prez rebuked Alito during a State of the Union,” Grassley tweeted of Roberts, who was appointed in 2005 by George W. Bush and is regarded as one of the court’s conservative members.
Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Trump for a comment he made abt judge’s decision on asylum I don’t recall the Chief attacking Obama when that Prez rebuked Alito during a State of the Union
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) November 21, 2018
Trump and Roberts exchanged barbs Wednesday after the president slammed a California-based federal judge who blocked his administration’s new asylum policy. Obama nominated the judge, Jon Tigar, to the U.S. district court in San Francisco in 2012.
Roberts then defended the independence of the judiciary in a rebuke, describing “an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
Many social media pundits were quick to point out the inaccuracies in Grassley’s tweet.
This is exactly the opposite of what occurred:
-Obama criticized likely effects of ‘Citizens United’ in his Jan 2010 SOTU speech;
-Alito, part of Cit-U majority, mouthed “Not true” from the crowd.
If Grassley believes what he is saying, that’s bad.
If he doesn’t, that’s bad too. https://t.co/63b7XhMFHk— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) November 22, 2018
President Obama didn’t criticize Justice Alito at the State of the Union; Alito mouthed “not true” in response to a passage in which Obama criticized a specific #SCOTUS decision.
Oh, and Chief Justice Roberts _still_ called that episode “very troubling.”
How soon we forget… https://t.co/uOrKAr9heP
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) November 21, 2018
Obama condemned the court’s Citizens United decision during his 2010 State of the Union address before Congress, suggesting the body pass legislation overturning the ruling because of the effect it would have on corporate spending in U.S. elections. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was in attendance and part of the majority in that case, suffered a backlash for mouthing “not true” in response to Obama’s comments. At the time, Roberts said the situation was “very troubling.”
