Trump: Criticizing SCOTUS Justices Should Be “Illegal”

New York Magazine reports:

Over the weekend, Donald Trump expressed in a speech his belief that public criticism of judges and Supreme Court justices who rule in Trump’s favor should be illegal. “I really think it’s illegal what they do, with judges and justices. They’re playing the ref. Remember the term. Playing the ref with our judges and justices should be punishable by very serious fines and beyond that.”

He also managed, in typical Trumpian fashion, to strip away any pretense of intellectual consistency by (1) saying that “working the refs” is wonderful and brilliant, because it was done by his friend, Bobby Knight, the former Indiana basketball coach who endorsed him, leading to Trump winning Indiana by a landslide, and (2) immediately making his own criticism of judges who rule against him. “The New York court system is totally corrupt,” Trump said.

Read the full article.

Trump Proposes Ban on Criticizing Pro-Trump Judges- (but it’s fine for him to slam the judges convicting him- and their families too.) https://t.co/wMKLLsOOMB

— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) August 19, 2024

“I believe it’s illegal what they do […] they’re constantly criticizing our great, some of our greatest justices…”

Trump is off-script relaying his authoritarian fantasy of making it illegal to criticize his handpicked Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/vBx2yvgqCT

— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) August 17, 2024