Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) personally attacked Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday after Roberts condemned “threatening” remarks that Schumer made to two Supreme Court Justices earlier in the day.
A spokesperson for Schumer said, “For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg last week, shows that Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes.”
There was no misinterpretation of what Schumer said when he specifically made what were widely deemed as threats against Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Schumer’s spokesperson also falsely claimed, “It was a reference to the political price Rs will pay for putting them on the court and a warning that the justices will unleash major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.”
Schumer’s exact words at the far-left pro-abortion rally were: “Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they’re taking away fundamental rights. 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.”
Look at this BS. Schumer’s aide is insulting people’s intelligence by calling Schumer’s threat against Gorsuch and Kavanaugh a right-wing misinterpretation. What bunk. Schumer never mentioned Senate Republicans when he told the two justices they “won’t know what hit you.” pic.twitter.com/aApOa6MCo2
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 4, 2020
Roberts responded by Schumer’s comments in a statement:
This morning, Senator Schumer spoke at a rally in front of the Supreme Court while a case was being argued inside. Senator Schumer referred to two Members of the Court by name and said he wanted to tell them that ‘You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’
Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.
The notion that the comments that Trump directed at leftist Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor were on the same level as Schumer’s remarks is false as Trump did not make any threats, unlike Schumer.
“‘[Supreme Court Justice Sonia] Sotomayor accuses GOP appointed Justices of being biased in favor of Trump.’ @IngrahamAngle,” Trump tweeted late last month. “This is a terrible thing to say. Trying to ‘shame’ some into voting her way? She never criticized Justice Ginsberg when she called me a ‘faker’. Both should recuse themselves on all Trump, or Trump related, matters! While ‘elections have consequences’, I only ask for fairness, especially when it comes to decisions made by the United States Supreme Court!”
….on all Trump, or Trump related, matters! While “elections have consequences”, I only ask for fairness, especially when it comes to decisions made by the United States Supreme Court!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2020
Trump’s tweets were in reference to a recent dissent by Sotomayor “against an order by the court to allow the Trump administration to proceed with a plan to deny green cards to immigrants who are deemed likely to become ‘public charges’ reliant on government aid programs,” The New York Times reported.
This report has been updated to include additional information.