With President Trump already seething over the Supreme Court’s rejection of his plan to end the Obama-era amnesty program for younger illegal immigrants, the No. 2 at Homeland Security took it further, slapping the chief justice as an “all-star punter.”
Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli, a leader of the administration’s hard-line approach to illegal immigration, flicked out three anti-court tweets after Chief Justice John Roberts sided with court liberals to back former President Barack Obama over President Trump.
Cuccinelli compared the decision to the setback the court delivered to the president over his wishes to add a citizenship question to the census.
#SCOTUS #DACA decision is the Census case, part two. If Justice Roberts played football, he’d be an all-star punter!
— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) June 18, 2020
“#SCOTUS #DACA decision is the Census case, part two. If Justice Roberts played football, he’d be an all-star punter!” tweeted Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general.
“I used to use #SCOTUS… I think after today’s rulings, I’m going to start typing it like this: #scotus. We need more good Justices,” he said in another tweet.
I used to use #SCOTUS… I think after today’s rulings, I’m going to start typing it like this: #scotus. We need more good Justices.
— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) June 18, 2020
And, he added in a third tweet, “#DACA #scotus Terrible. Awful. Double-standard. Outrageous. Supreme Court says all any President needs is a pen and a phone? Does anyone think they’d let @realDonaldTrump just make up ‘laws’ on sticky notes like @BarackObama ???”
Obama, when stymied by Congress in 2014, famously said, “I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone.” The pen was to sign executive orders, the phone to whip up outside support for his moves.
In fact, Trump today was being urged to pull out his executive order Sharpie and get to work to target illegals and tie them up in court.
To many conservatives, Roberts has been a Republican disappointment on the court. Trump suggested in his own tweet that the court doesn’t like him. That prompted fans to work harder to get reelected to have a chance at naming more conservatives.
#DACA #scotus Terrible. Awful. Double-standard. Outrageous. Supreme Court says all any President needs is a pen and a phone? Does anyone think they’d let @realDonaldTrump just make up “laws” on sticky notes like @BarackObama ???
— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) June 18, 2020
After all the tweets went out, Cuccinelli and Acting Secretary Chad Wolf also issued official reactions.
Said Wolf, “The DACA program was created out of thin air and implemented illegally. The American people deserve to have the Nation’s laws faithfully executed as written by their representatives in Congress—not based on the arbitrary decisions of a past Administration. This ruling usurps the clear authority of the Executive Branch to end unlawful programs.”
Cuccinelli added, “Justice Clarence Thomas had it right in dissent: ‘Such timidity [by SCOTUS] forsakes the Court’s duty to apply the law according to neutral principles and the ripple effects of the majority’s error will be felt throughout our system of self-government.’”
