President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of federal judges who have blocked his administration’s policies, portraying them as threats to the nation and urging the Supreme Court to intervene.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump lashed out at judges who issued nationwide injunctions against his executive actions, calling them “radical left judges” and “lunatics” attempting to “assume the Powers of the Presidency, without having to attain 80 Million Votes.” (Trump won the 2024 election with 77 million votes, and federal judges are appointed, not elected.)
“STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote, directly appealing to Chief Justice John Roberts. “If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!”
The following morning, Trump reiterated his claims on Truth Social, again accusing federal judges of trying to take over presidential duties.
Trump’s administration has faced more than 100 lawsuits challenging his policies, with the former president arguing that nationwide injunctions have been unfairly used to block his agenda. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused these judges of acting as “partisan activists” in remarks to reporters on Wednesday.
“They are trying to dictate policy from the president of the United States,” Leavitt said. “They are trying to clearly slow-walk this administration’s agenda, and it’s unacceptable.”
Both Republican and Democratic administrations have encountered nationwide injunctions, but Trump and his supporters claim that he has faced an unprecedented number. According to the Harvard Law Review, Trump’s first term saw 64 nationwide injunctions—far more than any president since 2001.
However, Trump has exercised executive power in ways that previous presidents have not, and in his second term, he has aggressively pushed to expand the scope of his authority. As political analyst Steve Benen noted, Trump and his allies are framing judicial opposition as part of a broad conspiracy rather than acknowledging that his actions may be legally questionable.
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have also called for judges who rule against the administration to be impeached. This prompted a rare public response from Chief Justice Roberts, who stated, “Impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
The Justice Department is currently awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on its request to narrow the reach of several judicial orders blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. However, as The Associated Press noted, the court does not appear to be rushing its decision.