Justice Elena Kagan has pushed back against the notion that the US Supreme Court is a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's second-term agenda, pointing to rulings that have gone against the president.
Kagan defends court's independence
Speaking at an annual gathering of attorneys and judges for the ninth judicial circuit in Bellevue, Washington, on Thursday, Kagan – one of three liberal justices – rejected criticism that the court has become a mere enforcer of Trump's will.
“Is this a really conservative court? The answer is yes. The second question is: is this a court that does whatever the current administration wants? The answer is no,” Kagan said.
The court has allowed Trump to prevail on several contentious issues, including immigration policy, where it upheld his effort to end temporary deportation protections for Haitians and Syrians, and issued an order stripping Venezuelans of similar protections. Conservatives have also permitted Trump and future presidents to fire heads of independent agencies and weakened the Voting Rights Act, boosting Republican chances of retaining House control.
Key rulings against Trump
But Kagan highlighted the court's February ruling, where she and the liberal justices joined three conservatives to strike down Trump's use of executive authority to impose tariffs on numerous countries. “Tariffs is probably the key policy issue for this president,” said Kagan, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2010. “I don’t think that there are all that many decisions in recent times where a court strikes down such an important policy to a sitting president.”
Beyond tariffs, the Supreme Court also blocked Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and his administration's effort to end birthright citizenship. Kagan added: “I don’t see this as a court that is … going to rubber-stamp what the current administration does. You know, quite the opposite. I actually think that there are significant times with respect to very significant issues where the court has checked the executive branch.”
