In rare rebuke, Chief Justice Roberts slams Schumer for 'threatening' comments
"You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price," Schumer said of Trump appointees as the justices were hearing a case on abortion rights.
In rare rebuke, Chief Justice Roberts slams Schumer for 'threatening'…
archived 4 Mar 2020 22:32:02 UTC
March 4, 2020, 4:09 PM CST
By Pete Williams
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts publicly chastised Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Wednesday over comments Schumer made outside the court as the justices were hearing a case on abortion rights.
Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested that President Donald Trump's court appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, "won't know what hit" them if they vote to uphold abortion restrictions. He spoke during a rally on the sidewalk in front of the court building.
"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.
In a highly unusual written statement issued late Wednesday, Roberts said "statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only appropriate, they are dangerous."
"All members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter," Roberts said.
The court was hearing a challenge to a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. It was the first major abortion case to reach the Supreme Court since the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, who voted to uphold a woman's right to choose. He was replaced by Kavanaugh, who is generally more conservative.
Schumer told the crowd that state legislatures are waging a war on women by passing tough new abortion laws. "I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
The senator's spokesman said Schumer was referring to the political price Republicans "will pay for putting them on the court." It was a warning, the spokesman said, "that the justices will unleash major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision."
In his statement, Roberts said, "Justices know that criticism comes with the territory," before calling Schumer's comments inappropriate and dangerous. "All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter."
Roberts has often said in public appearances that he believes it is mistaken to assume that federal judges act out of their own partisan political interests. In 2018, He notably responded to President Trump's criticism of a federal judge as "an Obama judge."
"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said then. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."
