President Donald Trump criticized the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday after it rejected his administration’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting for the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The court said in a late Monday emergency order that the restrictions would most likely lose in court, at least for this year’s election.
The administration had made a last-minute push to give the U.S. Postal Service a central role in determining who could receive a ballot. State election officials opposed the proposed changes, arguing that there was insufficient time to implement them before the midterms and that their existing systems were secure and accurate.
Trump responded in a lengthy social media post, faulting the justices who opposed his position. Justices Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas publicly dissented from the order, and Trump called them “legends both.” Trump nominated three current justices: Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh.
“These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves,” Trump wrote.
Trump also asserted that the court was being influenced by the “Radical Left” and claimed its rulings were costing the United States trillions of dollars. The source provided no supporting calculation for that claim.
The dispute follows other public criticism by Trump of the Supreme Court over decisions involving efforts to restrict birthright citizenship and his authority to impose tariffs unilaterally. His latest comments continue a pattern of attacking judges and justices whose decisions conflict with his administration’s positions.