Trump's public attacks on judges and justices over rulings, 2016-2026

Case

Across his campaign and both terms, and in between, Trump has publicly attacked judges and justices when rulings or cases went against him: the Trump University judge in 2016, the 'so-called judge' on the travel ban in 2017, the 'Obama judge' remark that drew a rare rebuke from Chief Justice Roberts in 2018, the New York hush-money judge in 2024, and in his second term an impeachment call against Judge Boasberg, attacks on the trade court and on a judge he appointed in Portland, and attacks on the Supreme Court over tariffs. In a TIME interview published Oct. 1, 2026 he said he regrets nominating Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett because they voted against him too often. Days later, Justice Alito told Fox News Sunday there is a concerted effort to intimidate the Court, without naming anyone.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel and the Trump University case (June 2016, campaign)
On June 2, 2016, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was presiding over fraud lawsuits against Trump University, had 'an absolute conflict' because of his Mexican heritage.
Curiel was born in Indiana to parents who had come from Mexico; Trump tied his criticism to his proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
On June 7, 2016, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had endorsed Trump days earlier, called the comment the 'textbook definition of a racist comment' and said it should be disavowed.
Trump then said he did not believe heritage makes someone incapable of being impartial, that his remarks had been misconstrued, and that he questioned whether he was getting a fair trial based on the rulings in the case; he said he would not comment further.

'So-called judge' after the first travel-ban ruling (Feb. 2017)
On Feb. 4, 2017, after U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a nationwide stay of Trump's travel ban, Trump tweeted several times attacking the ruling and called Robart a 'so-called judge.'
He tweeted that the opinion would be overturned, and that because a judge had halted the ban, dangerous people might be able to enter the country.

'Obama judge' and Chief Justice Roberts's rebuke (Nov. 2018)
On Nov. 20, 2018, after U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar temporarily blocked the administration's asylum restrictions, Trump said the ruling came from an 'Obama judge' and called the Ninth Circuit a disgrace.
On Nov. 21, 2018, in a statement to the Associated Press, Chief Justice John Roberts said 'We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.' It was the first time he had directly responded to Trump's comments about judges.
Trump replied the same day in a tweet saying Roberts did in fact have 'Obama judges' who hold a different view from those charged with the country's safety.

Judge Juan Merchan and the hush-money gag order (Mar. 2024, between terms)
On Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2024, less than a day after New York Judge Juan Merchan issued a partial gag order in Trump's criminal hush-money case, Trump posted a stream of Truth Social messages saying Merchan had issued another 'illegal, un-American, unConstitutional' order.
He also attacked Merchan's daughter, who does Democratic political consulting work, and suggested without evidence that the judge was acting in her interests.
NBC News reported that Trump called Merchan 'biased and conflicted' and that the gag order did not cover the judge or his family at that point, which Trump exploited.
An NBC News analysis found that Trump's attacks on the judicial system on Truth Social were frequently tied to developments in his court cases and at times outnumbered his posts about his re-election bid; NBC also reported that Merchan, Judge Arthur Engoron and Judge Tanya Chutkan had all received threats after Trump's complaints.

Impeachment call against Judge Boasberg over the Alien Enemies Act deportations (Mar. 18, 2025)
On Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that Judge James Boasberg should be impeached, calling him a 'Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge' appointed by Barack Obama and saying he and 'many of the Crooked Judges' he has to appear before should be impeached.
The post followed Boasberg's written order, issued Sunday, Mar. 16, temporarily barring the administration from deporting noncitizens in custody after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of people the government said were Venezuelan gang members, without due process.
Boasberg had also verbally ordered two planes already in the air to return to the U.S.; the flights continued to El Salvador.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Mar. 17 that the administration had complied with the order and that there was a difference between a judge's written and verbal orders; she also said she was not aware of the president using language about impeaching judges.
Trump justified the attacks by pointing to his election mandate and his promise to fight illegal immigration, writing that he was doing what the voters wanted.
Chief Justice Roberts responded to the impeachment call with a rare public rebuke.
On Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox News's The Will Cain Show that Boasberg had no right to ask the government questions about the flights, that courts were 'meddling in our government,' and asked why a judge was trying to protect terrorists over American citizens. She also said the administration would honor the court's ruling while appealing it and continuing deportations.
In late April 2025, on Fox News's Hannity, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Americans must either get behind Trump to remove 'terrorists' or let a 'rogue, radical left judiciary' shut down the machinery of the national security apparatus, and referred to 'communist left-wing judges.'
The Daily Beast noted that the Supreme Court had ruled earlier that month that Alien Enemies Act deportees were entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal, while allowing deportations under the law to continue in a 5-4 order.

Memorial Day post on 'monsters' and judges (May 26, 2025)
On Memorial Day, May 26, 2025, Trump posted an all-caps Truth Social message accusing federal judges of keeping murderers, drug dealers, rapists and gang members in the country, and said he hoped the Supreme Court and 'compassionate judges' would save the country from the decisions of 'the monsters who want our country to go to hell.'
Newsweek reported that the post was edited and reposted several times that morning, and that the version later on his profile ended with a positive note about progress over the previous four months.
Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, a conservative, told MSNBC in May 2025 that the judges were enforcing their oath to the Constitution and that the president appeared to intend to wage a war against the federal judiciary.

Court of International Trade tariff ruling and Leonard Leo (May 29-30, 2025)
After a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority by using the 1977 IEEPA to impose sweeping global tariffs, Trump posted a long Truth Social message on Thursday night, May 29, 2025, condemning the judges and the legal advisers who had recommended them. The ruling was put on hold pending appeal.
He called Leonard Leo, the former longtime leader of the Federalist Society, a 'real sleazebag' who 'probably hates America,' and said he was disappointed in the Federalist Society for its advice on judicial nominations.
Axios noted that one of the three judges on the panel was appointed by Trump in 2017, and described the post as part of an attack on any judge who stalls his agenda, including ones he appointed.
Leo said that neither he nor the Federalist Society was involved in shaping appointments to the trade court.

Judge Karin Immergut and the Portland National Guard deployment (Oct. 2025)
On Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, whom Trump nominated in 2019, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the federalization and deployment of Oregon National Guard members to Portland, writing that the president's determination was 'simply untethered to the facts.'
Trump told reporters in remarks after the ruling that he had appointed the judge and that she should be ashamed of blocking the deployment, according to The Daily Beast.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called the ruling 'legal insurrection' in a post on Oct. 5, 2025.

Truth Social posts on the Supreme Court and Judge Boasberg (Mar. 15-16, 2026)
Late on Sunday, Mar. 15, 2026, Trump posted a lengthy, multi-post Truth Social attack on the federal courts, aimed in particular at Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg and at the Supreme Court justices who ruled against his tariffs in February.
He said the tariff decision was the one that mattered most to him, and described the Court as 'little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.'
He thanked the conservative justices who sided with him in the tariff case and criticized the rest of the Court.
Trump accused Boasberg of 'open, flagrant, and extreme partisan bias' against Republicans and his administration, and called for Boasberg to be removed from cases involving the administration.
The attack on Boasberg followed his ruling two days earlier (Friday, Mar. 13) quashing the Justice Department's criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell; Boasberg found the subpoenas about a Fed building renovation were a pretext to harass Powell over interest rates.

Trump on his own Supreme Court appointees (TIME interview, Sept.-Oct. 2026)
In a TIME interview conducted Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 and published Thursday, Oct. 1, Trump was asked whether he regrets nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett and answered yes, saying they voted against him too often.
The interviewer was referring to a recent Truth Social post of his; he had earlier called the three 'shells of their former selves.'
Rulings cited in coverage: the Court's 6-3 February decision that IEEPA did not authorize his emergency tariffs (Gorsuch and Barrett in the majority, Kavanaugh dissenting), the June ruling against his birthright-citizenship order, and a 5-4 decision blocking his removal of Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
Asked whether he wants loyalty from justices, Trump first said he likes loyalty, then said he does not want loyalty and wants good decisions.

Alito's response (Fox News Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026)
On Oct. 4, 2026, Justice Samuel Alito told Fox News Sunday's Shannon Bream there has been a concerted effort to intimidate the Court and its justices to influence how they decide cases, and that he is concerned about the Court's future.
The remark came right after Bream asked about public figures' statements about the Court, following a clip of Sen. Chuck Schumer telling Kavanaugh and Gorsuch they 'will pay' over abortion rulings and a reference to Trump's recent criticism of the justices.
Alito did not name anyone. He said he tries to put the outside commentary out of his mind and is concerned about escalating rhetoric from people in important positions, which he said could affect the Court's long-term standing.

Context: Sen. Schumer's 'pay the price' remark, Roberts's rebuke, and Schumer's apology (Mar. 2020)
On Mar. 4, 2020, at a rally outside the Supreme Court while the justices heard a major abortion case, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer addressed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh by name and said they would 'pay the price' for their decisions.
Hours later, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement saying threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government were 'inappropriate' and 'dangerous.'
Schumer's spokesman initially said the remark referred to the political price Senate Republicans would pay for putting the justices on the court, and criticized Roberts for not remaining impartial.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the remarks on the Senate floor, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Schumer had said his words were not appropriate and that she supported him on that.
On Mar. 5, 2020, Schumer said on the Senate floor that he 'should not have used the words I used,' that they did not come out the way he intended, and that he was not making a threat.
The New York Times reported that Schumer apologized; Axios reported that he expressed regret following the Roberts rebuke.
Axios also noted that Trump tweeted that day that Schumer had brought 'great danger' to the justices, and that Trump himself had frequently attacked the federal judiciary over rulings he disliked.
In October 2026, Fox News Sunday played a clip of the Schumer remark when it asked Alito about public figures' statements about the Court (see the Alito section above).

Perspectives

Editorial read — The Author (site author), thesis
The Author's view is that Alito's remark is best read against Trump's attacks on justices who ruled against him, and that this fits a wider pattern of pressure from Trump and the Justice Department on the courts. This is a thesis, not something Alito said: he named no one, and the sourced facts above do not establish DOJ pressure on the Court.

Research notes
Instances are in chronological order and are a sample, not a full list; new ones keep turning up and should be added as sourced entries. Still wanted: primary sources for the TIME interview transcript, the Mar. 15, 2026 posts, Trump's Oct. 2025 remarks on Judge Immergut, Bondi's Mar. 19, 2025 Fox News appearance (video), and Miller's late-April 2025 Hannity appearance (exact date). Check that the Mar. 18, 2025 Truth Social link still loads.

Note
Alito named no one, and Fox's questions raised both a Schumer clip and Trump's attacks; Trump also said in the same interview that he does not want loyalty from justices, only good decisions.

Sources
[1] Reuters (syndicated copy, KFGO) (https://kfgo.com/?p=1358638) · 2026-10-01
[2] Mediaite: Trump says he regrets nominating all 3 of his Supreme Court picks (https://mediaite.com/media/news/trump-flat-out-says-he-regrets-nominating-all-3-of-his-supreme-court-picks-they-voted-against-me-too-often) · 2026-10-01
[3] Mediaite: Alito calls out 'concerted effort to intimidate the Court' (https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/justice-alito-calls-out-concerted-effort-to-intimidate-the-court-shortly-after-fox-anchor-confronts-him-on-trumps-attacks-against-his-colleagues/) · 2026-10-04
[4] Washington Examiner: Alito warns 'concerted' effort to intimidate Supreme Court (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court/4753401/samuel-alito-interview-supreme-court-threats-future/) · 2026-10-04
[5] The Washington Times: Trump blasts judges for 'disrespect' of presidents who nominate them (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/mar/16/donald-trump-blasts-judges-disrespect-presidents-nominate-social/) · 2026-03-16
[6] ABC Audio (syndicated copy): Trump rails against Supreme Court, court system and judge in social media posts (https://thepulseofnh.com/?p=216444) · 2026-03-16
[7] Newsweek: Donald Trump attacks judges in all-caps Memorial Day message (https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-attacks-judges-all-caps-memorial-day-message-monsters-2077023) · 2025-05-26
[8] The New Republic: Trump Has Tantrum About Popularity of Judge Who Dared Defy Him (https://newrepublic.com/post/192859/donald-trump-attack-judge-deportations) · 2025-03-18
[9] Trump's Truth Social post calling for Judge Boasberg's impeachment (Mar. 18, 2025) (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114183576937425149) · 2025-03-18
[10] PolitiFact: Donald Trump's racial comments about Hispanic judge in Trump University case (https://politifact.com/article/2016/jun/08/donald-trumps-racial-comments-about-judge-trump-un/) · 2016-06-08
[11] Associated Press (via FOX 9): Ryan: Trump made 'textbook definition of a racist comment' (https://www.fox9.com/news/ryan-trump-made-textbook-definition-of-a-racist-comment) · 2016-06-07
[12] Reuters (El Universal copy): Under fire from Republicans, Trump says he'll stop talking about judge (https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/english/2016/06/8/under-fire-republicans-trump-says-hell-stop-talking-about-judge/) · 2016-06-07
[13] CBS News: Trump tweets on 'so-called judge' after travel ban stay (https://cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-tweets-on-so-called-judge-after-travel-ban-stay) · 2017-02-04
[14] Associated Press (via FOX 29): Justice Roberts rebukes Trump's 'Obama judge' comment (https://www.fox29.com/news/justice-roberts-rebukes-trumps-obama-judge-comment) · 2018-11-21
[15] Action News Jax: Chief Justice John Roberts responds after Trump criticizes 'Obama judge' (https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending-now/chief-justice-john-roberts-responds-after-trump-criticizes-obama-judge/876678106/) · 2018-11-21
[16] Axios: Trump lashes out at N.Y. judge who issued gag order in hush money case (https://www.axios.com/2024/03/27/trump-new-york-judge-gag-order-truth-social) · 2024-03-27
[17] NBC News: Trump attacks judge in hush money case and the judge's daughter (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna145297) · 2024-03-28
[18] Axios: Trump declares war on his own judicial legacy (https://www.axios.com/2025/05/30/trump-judges-supreme-court-leonard-leo) · 2025-05-30
[19] Associated Press (via WSLS): Trump, frustrated with some judges, lashes out at Leonard Leo (https://www.wsls.com/news/politics/2025/06/01/trump-frustrated-with-some-judges-lashes-out-at-former-ally-and-conservative-activist-leonard-leo/) · 2025-06-01
[20] Fox News: Who is the Trump-appointed judge blocking deployment of National Guard to Portland? (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/who-trump-appointed-judge-blocking-deployment-national-guard-portland) · 2025-10-07
[21] The Daily Beast: Trump Explodes at Judge He Put on the Bench (https://www2.thedailybeast.com/trump-publicly-melts-down-over-portland-judges-ruling) · 2025-10-05
[22] Associated Press (via FOX 5 NY): Schumer: I 'should not have used' threatening words on court (https://www.fox5ny.com/news/schumer-i-should-not-have-used-threatening-words) · 2020-03-05
[23] Axios: Schumer on Supreme Court remarks: "I should not have used the words I used" (https://www.axios.com/2020/03/05/chuck-schumer-supreme-court-kavanaugh) · 2020-03-05
[24] New York Times (via Lodi News-Sentinel/PressReader): Schumer apologizes for attacks on Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh (https://www.pressreader.com/usa/lodi-news-sentinel/20200306/281582357683286) · 2020-03-06
[25] Bloomberg News (via Minnesota Lawyer): Schumer says he regrets words blasting Kavanaugh, Gorsuch (https://minnlawyer.com/?p=166546) · 2020-03-10
[26] The Daily Beast: Attorney General: Judge Had 'No Right' to Question Trump (https://thedailybeast.com/attorney-general-judge-had-no-right-to-question-trump) · 2025-03-19
[27] Bloomberg Law: Trump Judicial Foe Was Kavanaugh's Roommate, Had GOP Support (https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trumps-judicial-foe-was-kavanaughs-roommate-had-gops-backing) · 2025-03
[28] The New Republic: Stephen Miller Delivers Chilling Warning to Judges on Deportations (https://newrepublic.com/post/194367/stephen-miller-warning-judges-deportations) · 2025-04
[29] The Daily Beast: Stephen Miller Rants About 'Communist' Judges in Immigration Meltdown (https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-demands-americans-side-with-donald-trump-against-communist-judges-in-unhinged-rant/) · 2025-04

Connections

Shared mechanism — 'Flood the zone': overwhelming courts, opposition, and the public
Public pressure on courts after adverse rulings is one of the ways the 'flood the zone' topic describes courts being overwhelmed.

Same context — Claims of immunity from law for Trump and federal agents
Both concern the relationship between Trump and the Supreme Court over limits on presidential power.

Same actor — Trump v. IRS settlement: the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and the tax-audit immunity addendum Blanche signed (May-Aug. 2026)
Both involve Trump and his Justice Department in legal matters touching his own interests; the Powell probe quashed by Boasberg was a DOJ investigation.