Chief Justice Roberts Speaks as Lower Court Rulings Continue to Impede Trump Agenda, Jon Justice, 3.19.25

Wednesday morning I called in to Jon Justice’s show to talk about a statement from John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, which came on the heels of President Trump endorsing efforts to impeach Federal judges who are issuing rulings enjoining the work of his Administration.

I have long been a defender of the Chief Justice in debates with fellow conservatives, dating back to his ruling upholding the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. I have admired his efforts to preserve the Court’s status as the “adult in the room” as the rest of our political system has devolved into a never-ending food fight…with both parties at fault.

This time, however, I had to disagree with the Chief Justice’s approach. While some commentators speculated that this was Chief Justice Roberts’ attempt to take the impeachment card off the table by signaling that these lower court rulings will be dealt with and overturned on appeal, others pushed back and suggested that a better approach would have been for the Chief to keep his mouth shut.

Chief Justice Roberts has made it one of the hallmarks of his tenure that the Court grants emergency relief sparingly, instead preferring that cases run their course through the appeals process before having a final adjudication on the merits by the Supreme Court. This reluctance to grant emergency relief can sometimes be interpreted by some as the Court’s view on the merits of the issue.

At present, there have been no less than 46 rulings against current administration policy. Many are criticizing lower court judges for infringing upon the role of the Executive Branch. In my opinion, leaving these orders granting injunctive relief on a nationwide basis in place while the case is adjudicated is having the opposite impact of what Chief Justice Roberts is intending. In short, he and his colleagues are going to have to get their hands dirty, and soon.

You can listen to our discussion here.

To listen to my past appearances on Twin Cities News Talk, head over to the show page on this site.