Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch

The Massive Defiance By Federal Judges Of Donald Trump, Including His Own Judicial Appointments!

When the Supreme Court by a vote of 6-3 rejected Donald Trump’s tariffs as outside his rights, as it is up to Congress to decide on tariff policy, the President lashed out at those members of the Court who were part of the majority, including two of his appointments, Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, along with Chief Justice John Roberts.

But the record shows that federal judges, including appointments by all Presidents since Ronald Reagan, and even Trump appointments, have been active in rejecting another policy that is crucial to Trump’s agenda, mass detention and deportations of illegal immigrants, but also legal immigrants and even citizens by the abuses of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

More than 100 legal challenges to this abusive policy have been filed daily in recent weeks, and as of mid February 2026, at least 373 federal judges have ruled against the administration’s mass detention policies, ordering release or bond hearings in more than 1,600 cases. At the same time, ONLY 28 judges, including 20 appointed by Trump, have sided with the administration’s position. And 44 Trump “judges” have been included in those who have ruled against its positions on mass detention. And a total of 3500 cases have been rejected overall, and only 150 cases supportive of the Trump policy.

The record shows that 122 Joe Biden appointments have ruled against the Trump Administration, and 112 Barack Obama appointments have also done so. The remaining rejections have seen 38 Bill Clinton judges, and a total of 43 George W. Bush judges, and 7 judges each appointed by Presidents George H W Bush, and Ronald Reagan.

But sadly, if a Circuit Court rules against what District Court judges have done, it can reverse the actions of those lower courts, so the battle for constitutional rights is a major crisis long term at this point!

As State Of The Union Address Occurs, Donald Trump’s Ratings Are Rapidly In Decline!

President Donald Trump is about to give his State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress this Tuesday, February 24, just as public opinion ratings demonstrate that he is rapidly declining in support among many voter groups.

As it is, his ratings have been, depending on the poll, as low as 36 percent positive, and at best 40 percent.

The issues of the economy (Affordability), the Epstein Files Scandal, the horrors of ICE, the Health Care cuts, and now, the Supreme Court rejection of his tariffs, are all weighing on him, as he lashes out at his critics, and has personally attacked the Justices who rejected his tariffs, particularly two of his own appointments—Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett—along with Chief Justice John Roberts.

Also, Trump’s aggressive foreign policy is also alienating many voters, and his unstable rants and attacks on his critics alarm many Americans.

Various groups that made the mistake to support him in the Presidential Election of 2024 are turning strongly against him.

This includes:

White Women
Latinos
Working Class Non White Voters
Young Men
College Educated Suburban Voters

The strong Democratic gains in the off year elections in November 2025, and the gaining of seats in state legislatures and other offices in areas traditionally Republican in special elections, is also an alarm bell in the night for the upcoming Midterm Elections of 2026.

Even with mid decade redistricting occurring in Texas and elsewhere at Donald Trump’s insistence, the likelihood of Democrats taking back the House of Representatives majority, and even having a growing possibility of regaining the Senate majority, is seen as strong.

We are seeing Americans alarmed at the threat of interference by the Trump Administration on the issue of the right to vote, and attempts to restrict those who can vote.

This includes the fear that ICE might have agents at voting locations, which would be a massive threat designed to intimidate voters.

Supreme Court Finally Upholds The Constitution, And Rebukes Donald Trump On Tariffs!

After acting totally submissive toward Donald Trump in his first year of his second term, finally the Supreme Court majority, including two Trump appointees—Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and the three Democratic women justices–have delivered a solid rebuke to Trump on the subject of protective tariffs.

This is long overdue, as the Court has developed a reputation as the most extreme right wing Court in a century, and Chief Justice Roberts presides over a majority which usually has no desire to challenge executive power of the President.

This dangerous trend, hopefully, will continue to be challenged in future cases, particularly on birthright citizenship rights, which are contained in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified after the Civil War.

Donald Trump does not care about the reality that protective tariffs are a disaster, as they were in causing the Panic of 1893 and the Great Depression of the 1930s, because Republican Presidents Benjamin Harrison (prodded on by future President William McKinley’s promotion of high tariffs) and Herbert Hoover stubbornly imposed them on the American people, destroying the economy.

With the economy not doing well, despite Trump’s delusional statements, this repudation of Trump’s tariffs should be seen as a blessing by him, as well as the American people.

But instead, Trump is railing against his own Republican Justices who have “defied” him, and one wonders how it will show up in his State of the Union Address next Tuesday.

Will he openly condemn Roberts, Gorsuch, and Barrett in his speech, or will he be diplomatic and maybe just lightly tease them?

This should be a very interesting moment of confrontation between the Supreme Court members who show up and the President of the United States!

It reminds one of past clashes of Presidents and Supreme Courts, including under Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson with Chief Justice John Marshall; Abraham Lincoln with Chief Justice Roger Taney; Franklin D. Roosevelt with the majority conservative Court and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes during the New Deal; and other controversies involving Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama and Supreme Court decisions!

The $175 Billion raised in tariffs this past year were a financial burden on the American consumers, and should be returned to the American people with a refund per taxpayer of $1700, as suggested by Illinois Governor JD Pritzker. However, it seems that Trump has no concern of the damage done to the average American, while constantly engaged in grift for personal gain, having enriched himself in the past year, a crime against the Constitution!

The Supreme Court Has Become A True Disaster!

The US Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Roberts, has become a total disaster, a disgrace to its 236 year history since 1789.

The present Court, with a 6-3 right wing majority, is the most extremist since the 1920s, and seems to have the purpose to join Donald Trump in destroying the regulatory state and the promotion of civil rights that has occurred from the New Deal onward.

Two of the members—Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito—are the most extremist and corrupt members of the Court in the past century, highly arrogant individuals. And Chief Justice Roberts, who seems so concerned about his legacy in history as the leader of the Court, has given up trying to regulate the influence of these two members, and the three Donald Trump appointments, which with rare exceptions join in on most decisions, with an occasional, surprising split by Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett.

The three Democratic appointments to the court–Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson–are clearly frustrated, as indicated in their often fiery, critical responses to many of the Court decisions. It must be hard to have civil relations, and one would think, that the frustrations could lead to private thoughts of resigning from the Court. But of course, they know that if any of them were to resign, that would mean a future 7-2 Court and even more extremist impact.

Right now, in a very difficult time, we must be proud of their defiance, and their commitment to staying and fighting, and hope for their continued health and prosperity, with the fear if one is forced to leave, what a disaster that would mean for constitutional law, already in disarray as things stand now!

Federal Judiciary, Including Appointees Of Trump, The Bushes, Reagan, Put Limits On Donald Trump Power!

The Federal Judiciary, including appointees of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and even Donald Trump, have been clamping down on abuse of executive power, to the fury of Trump.

The fact that even some of his own judicial appointees are holding Trump accountable says legions about the abuses of power going on.

This includes all three of Trump’s Supreme Court Justice appointments—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Trump seems to be ready to refuse to obey any Supreme Court decision, or lower courts, and if that ultimately occurs, then we are in a no win situation in which the President and his appointees are unaccountable in any fashion.

This is a terrifying scenario, with horrifying potential for disaster in so many ways.

Death threats are mounting against judges across the nation, and the President’s rhetoric is encouraging such intimidation.

It is getting more difficult for critics, including this author and blogger, to keep up their optimism that democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution can, successfully, win out over the abuses of power going on in America, as we enter the fifth full month of the second Trump Presidency.

Donald Trump Has Declared War On Supreme Court And Other Federal Courts’ Authority!

The nation is reaching a crucial turning point, as Donald Trump has attacked the seven members of the Supreme Court, who have ruled that he cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants without habeus corpus and due process.

Trump is ranting on Truth Social about this, and he and his MAGA Republican supporters have also unleashed attacks against District Court Judges and Appeals Court Judges who have ruled against his policies regarding deportation.

Chief Justice John Roberts has also made clear how disturbed he is at the attacks on the rule of law and the Constitution, as has Associate Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and even Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett.

The fact that all three Trump Supreme Court nominees, including Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, along with Barrett, have voted against him, and that some of the District and Appeals Court Judges who have done so, are Reagan, George H W Bush, George W Bush, and even some Trump appointees, is an indication of great alarm in the judicial branch about Trump’s grabbing of power and attacks on the validity and legitimacy of the courts!

It looks as if Trump and his Cabinet officers, particularly Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan, and White House Adviser Stephen Miller, are hell bent on breaking the law and the Constitution, and refusing to obey the federal courts.

This is, if not stopped, a full scale attack on civil liberties, the Bill of Rights, and endangers all Americans, that any excuse could be used, without evidence or investigation, leading to massive deportations to foreign dictatorships beyond just El Salvador, with no appeal or ability to reverse such totalitarian, Fascist actions!

US Supreme Court Adding To Its Poor Image By Delaying Presidential Immunity Decision To End Of June!

The US Supreme Court, already with a terrible reputation as an extremist right wing Court, is adding to its poor image by delaying its Presidential Immunity decision to the very last week of the present term.

The idea that any President has total immunity on anything he does as President is shocking, but the Court, with its three Donald Trump appointees, plus the horrendous Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both involved in conflict of interest controversies of their own making, is adding tension to the nation by not having rejected such an idea summarily.

The hope is that the Court will reject such an outrageous abuse of Presidential power, that would allow any action of a President without any controls.

This blogger senses, and hopes that the vote will be as high as 7-2 rejecting total Presidential immunity, with only Thomas and Alito seemingly assured to back such abuse of power.

But this assumes that the Trump appointees, and at the least, Amy Coney Barrett, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, will join Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, to come to that conclusion. The hope is that Brett Kavanaugh will also join such a majority, and possibly Neil Gorsuch.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas On Campaign To Take Away Indian Treaties!

Native American rights and enforcement of treaties with the US government are, historically, a major problem.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has become a champion of such rights, but the Court overall has typically undermined the rights of indigenous peoples.

And now, Gorsuch’s colleague, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, is on a tear to strip native Americans of protections that they do have, a real oddity why Thomas is involved in a growing feud with Gorsuch and supporters of native American rights and treaties.

Thomas is clearly a mental case, out to destroy all amity and decency in his quest to undermine rights not only of women, native Americans, and even people of his own race, but also that of gays and transgender Americans.

Thomas has been on the Supreme Court for nearly 32 years, and it is long overdue for him to retire, particularly after the revelations of ethics violations with his accepting financial advantages from billionaire Harlan Crow.

If he stays on the Court until early 2028, approximately another five years, Thomas will surpass the longevity of the longest serving Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas. He is already the 12th longest serving member of the Supreme Court in American history!

Supreme Court Justice Quality Way Down From Decades In The Past!

Republican Party Presidents since 1953 have selected the vast majority of Supreme Court Justices!

Dwight D. Eisenhower 5
Richard Nixon 4
Gerald Ford 1
Ronald Reagan 4
George H. W. Bush 2
George W. Bush 2
Donald Trump 3
Total 21 with William Rehnquist listed twice under Nixon and Reagan

in 40 years of Republican Presidents

Democratic Party Presidents have had far fewer appointments!

John F. Kennedy 2
Lyndon B. Johnson 2
Jimmy Carter 0
Bill Clinton 2
Barack Obama 2
Joe Biden 1
Total 9

in 32 years of Democratic Presidents

So twice as many Repubican appointments as Democrats!

Eisenhower had Chief Justice Earl Warren, Associate Justice Potter Stewart, and Associate Justice William Brennan stand out!

Nixon had Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun stand out!

Ford had Associate Justice John Paul Stevens stand out!

Reagan had Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy stand out!

H W Bush had Associate Justice David Souter stand out!

On the Democratic side:

Kennedy had Associate Justice Byron White stand out!

Johnson had Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall stand out!

Clinton had Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer stand out!

Obama had Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Associate Justice Elena Kagan stand out!

Biden had Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stand out!

So 9 Republican appointments and 7 Democratic appointments have stood out!

Now, sadly, we have a group of appointments by Republican Presidents (the two Bushes and Donald Trump) that have been extremist and involved in conflicts of interest, and are not interested in being in the moderate center of constitutional law!

These include Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and sadly, Chief Justice John Roberts!

Supreme Court Corruption Is Massive: Time For Reform!

The latest revelation about Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch selling property to a law firm that has argued before the Court adds to the similar actions of Clarence Thomas selling property to a right wing billionaire, and makes clear the reality of ethical violations by members of the Court, who seem to think they are beyond reproach!

Add the nasty, arrogant manner of Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas; the ethical issues around Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh that have never been truly addressed; and the abuse promoted by Kentucky Senator and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in promoting a quick replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Amy Coney Barrett just weeks before the Presidential Election of 2020, while blocking the appointment of Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia nine months before the Presidential Election of 2016.

One could argue that except for Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, that all of the other Republican appointments to the Court are, at the least, ethically challenged, and screams for Supreme Court reform.

The Court is more extreme right wing than it has been since the 1920s, so there is now a strong argument to add members to the Court to right the balance, and to set term limits for future Court Justices.

Justices are on the Court for too long, with Thomas now at almost 32 years, and the all time record being 36, and with Alito at 17 years and Roberts at 18 years, which sounds like what the proper term in the future should be 18 years, with the idea that every President in the future, would have two appointments in a four year term, and there would be constant turnover over four plus Presidential terms.