Jonathan Turley, John Yoo Team Up To Pummel Justice Jackson’s Claim SCOTUS Ruling Will Be Fatal Blow For Rule Of Law
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley and former George W. Bush administration official John Yoo said on Friday that Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s “radioactive” dissent was “crying wolf” about the threat to the rule of law.
The Supreme Court found that district judges who issued so-called “nationwide injunctions” in response to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order regarding birthright citizenship in a 6-3 decision exceeded their authority. Turley noted that Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered a “pretty sporty” response to Jackson’s dissent in the case. (RELATED: Turley, McCarthy Say SCOTUS Case Will Halt ‘Small Attacks’ On Trump Policies)
“I must say, by the way, that the section of the opinion where justice Barrett goes after Justice Jackson makes for some pretty sporty reading,” Turney told “America’s Newsroom” co-host Dana Perino. “She delivers a haymaker accusing Justice Jackson of embracing judicial supremacy. Somewhat mocks her hyperbolic response.”
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“The Jackson dissent itself is rather radioactive. She talks about the collective demise that will come from all of this. That clearly rubbed Justice Barrett wrong,” Turley continued. “The notable thing about this is that Barrett has shown a willingness in past cases to vote with the liberal justices. She is not robotic or rigid in that sense. But she clearly took umbrage at the language in the Jackson dissent. Justice Jackson of late has been more hyperbolic, more heated, frankly, in some of her opinions and Justice Barrett here is pushing back in an uncommonly direct way for an opinion.”
In her opinion, Barrett called out Jackson’s support for allowing the nationwide injunctions to stand in her dissent.
“We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself. We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.”
Trump’s order on birthright citizenship was one of a series of executive orders issued within hours of his inauguration to address illegal immigration and border security, including designating Mexican drug cartels, the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and the El Salvadoran prison gang MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations. Yoo said Jackson’s dissent might end up solidifying the conservatives on the court as a bloc.
“I think Justice Jackson, I’m afraid to say, is really exaggerating, crying wolf and what’s the problem here is this is not that important a case when it comes to the Constitution. This is really just an important case about the judiciary limiting its own jurisdiction in a democratic system where judges have lifetime tenure and are never elected,” Yoo told Perino. “So the thing you would have to worry about on the court and its dynamics and Justice Jackson and the other two liberals is if they’re gonna cry wolf and say a case like this, fairly technical, a case of technical civil procedure which most Americans, I hope, never have to learn except a few lawyers, if they are going to cry wolf about this, saying the rule of law is collapsing, when are we ever going to believe them when it is actually the case?” (RELATED: ‘A Very Easy Decision’: Alan Dershowitz Drops Hammer On Dissenting Lib Justices In Child Sex Changes Case)
“I think the liberals on the court are shooting off ammunition when it is not appropriate and they are depleting any kind of political capital they have with their colleagues. They’re ruining their opportunities to try to engage and get some kind of compromise in their direction,” Yoo continued. “I think it will make the six justices that have been appointed by Republican presidents feel more – make them more cooperative with each other and less tempted to cooperate with the three liberals on the court.”
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