Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Tuesday that he believes Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts knows “the danger of a president” who doesn’t “respect the Constitution” after pushback from Roberts following President Trump’s call to impeach a federal judge.
“I don’t know Roberts all that well, I’m not a great fan of his court, but I think he does understand, I suspect, the danger of a president who does not respect the Constitution of the United States and wants more and more power for himself,” Sanders told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”
Sanders’s comments come after Roberts pushed back in a rare public statement to Trump calling for the impeachment of a federal judge who opposed his administration in a notable deportation case.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said in his Tuesday statement.
In an earlier post on Truth Social, the president referred to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg as a “troublemaker and agitator.”
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do,” Trump posted. “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
In his “The Source” appearance on Tuesday, Sanders said Trump “[is] trying to encroach on the constitutional responsibilities and spending powers of Congress, and now he’s going after the courts.”
“Look, if somebody is a corrupt judge, that person can and should be impeached, but not because you voice an opinion,” the Vermont senator added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Supreme Court for comment.
