President Trump said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “must pay a severe price” for threatening Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Schumer called out both justices by name as they were hearing a case that challenged a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!” Schumer warned at a pro-abortion rally outside the Supreme Court. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Schumer’s unprecedented attack drew a stern rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
“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,” Roberts said in a statement obtained by the Todd Starnes Show.
Schumer’s comments were widely condemned by conservatives, legal scholars and even the president.
“There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices. This is what Chuck Schumer just did. He must pay a severe price for this,” the president wrote on Twitter.
President Trump went on to tell talk radio host Sean Hannity that it was a “disgrace to the Supreme Court and to the U.S. Senate.”
“I was amazed by it and if that were a Republican you would see really bad things happening,” the president said. “It is very unequal justice, and it is a disgrace that he was able to say something like that.”
It’s not the first time Schumer has threatened someone. He once told President-elect Trump that, “you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” Today he threatens 2 Supreme Court justices: “You will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you.”
Today’s Left:
First Schumer tells President-elect Trump: “You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”
Today he threatens 2 Supreme Court justices: “You will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you.”pic.twitter.com/jGQ8m5qcjB
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 4, 2020