Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer defended federal judges and backed up Chief Justice John Roberts’s rare public statement this week after President Trump took aim at the judiciary.
“You decide what you think is correct in the law. Period,” Breyer told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. “You don’t want a judge to be looking over his shoulder to public opinion.”
Breyer, 86, retired from the court in 2022, paving the way for then-President Biden to appoint Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. He recently released a book about the Constitution and his approach to handling decisions, but his CNN interview coincided with Trump’s latest clash with a judge as he tests the limits of his authority early in his second term.
Trump called on lawmakers to impeach a federal judge who ruled against his administration as it sought to fast-track migrant deportations. Roberts’s public statement followed the escalation on Tuesday.
“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, without directly mentioning Trump.
Breyer said Roberts’s memo was “informative and educational” because most of the public isn’t immersed in the minutia of the judiciary.
“He’s trying to explain to the people of this country how the legal system works and how it doesn’t work,” Breyer said. “It doesn’t work by impeaching a judge because you don’t like his decision.”
Trump called for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who ruled against the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants he labeled as gang members and accused of carrying out an invasion.
Trump waved off Roberts’ words in a Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
“(Roberts) didn’t mention my name in the statement,” Trump said, launching into a defense of his judiciary attack as being backed by others.
Breyer, who also pointed out that Roberts didn’t mention Trump’s name, wouldn’t speak directly to the merits of Boasberg’s decision but said in most legal cases, “somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose.”
“What do you think the losing side thinks of the judge or the judge’s decision? Naturally, they think it’s wrong,” he said. “And judges are wrong sometimes. So, what does that person do? He appeals, he asks for a special writ in some cases, but he gets others to review the decision.”
“You move on in the legal process,” he added.
