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By Jenni Fink
Senior Editor
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President Donald Trump has continued his years-long criticism of the Supreme Court after it ruled against him on mail-in ballots.
A decision by the High Court preserved existing mail-voting procedures nationwide just weeks before the midterm elections, dealing a significant setback to Trump's effort to impose new federal requirements. By refusing to lift a lower-court injunction, the justices ensured that states can continue using their current vote-by-mail systems as legal challenges proceed, avoiding last-minute changes that election officials warned could disrupt voting for millions of Americans.
Trump spoke out against the decision, saying the justices aren't the same people that he interviewed before nominating them to the Court. During his first term in office, the president appointed three conservative justices to the High Court—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
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Trump's criticism comes as views of the Supreme Court remain near historic lows and justices have spoken about concerns for their safety. The president has had a long history of speaking out against justices, even those he nominated to the bench.
February, 2020: Demands That Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Recuse Themselves
In 2020, Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion that the “most troubling” of the Supreme Court’s recent behavior is that the justices have ruled in a way that benefits “one litigant over all others.” Her dissent was in a case deciding to lift an injunction on the Trump Administration’s immigrant public charge rule.
Trump told reporters that Sotomayor was trying to “shame people” into voting her way. He called on Sotomayor to resign while also calling on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to step down because of comments she made in 2016 when she criticized the president and called him a “faker.”
June, 2020: Calls Supreme Court Decisions ‘Horrible’ and ‘Politically Charged’
After the Court blocked his administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Trump issued one of his most sweeping attacks on the institution during his first term.
"These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!" Trump posted on X.
July, 2020: Rages Against the Court Over His Financial Records
The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s claim that a sitting president was categorically immune from a state criminal subpoena. The court also sent a case about congressional subpoenas for his financial records back to the lower courts for further review.
Following the decisions, Trump complained about “political prosecution” and portrayed the cases as evidence that he was being treated differently from previous presidents. Both decisions were 7-2, with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joining the majority in the congressional-subpoena case and concurring in the result in the state-subpoena case.
"The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!" Trump posted on X.
December, 2020: Says the Court Had ‘No Wisdom’ and ‘No Courage’
The Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn the November election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The court cited a lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution and said Texas had no real interest in how other states conduct their elections.
While the order was unsigned, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have taken up the case.
Hours after the decision, Trump posted on Twitter that the Supreme Court "really let us down."
"No Wisdom, No Courage!” Trump wrote.
April, 2025: Says the Court Is Intimidated by the Left
In a ruling, the Supreme Court temporarily paused removals of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act while legal challenges proceeded. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented from the majority.
“Literally in the middle of the night, the Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order,” Alito wrote in his dissent. “I refused to join the Court's order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate."
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he has “great respect” for the Supreme Court but criticized the justices for being swayed by Democrats.
“The Courts are intimidated by the Radical Left who are, ‘playing the Ref.’ Great Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito correctly wants to dissolve the pause on deportations. He is right on this!” Trump wrote.
May, 2025: Calls the Court Vulnerable to ‘Radical Left Losers’
In a ruling about a month later, the Supreme Court continued blocking the immediate removal of Venezuelan migrants while requiring that detainees receive notice and an opportunity to challenge their deportations.
Trump posted a series of messages attacking the Court, criticizing it for not allowing his administration to "get criminals out of our country."
“THE SUPREME COURT IS BEING PLAYED BY THE RADICAL LEFT LOSERS, WHO HAVE NO SUPPORT, THE PUBLIC HATES THEM, AND THEIR ONLY HOPE IS THE INTIMIDATION OF THE COURT, ITSELF," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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February, 2026: Calls Tariff Ruling an ‘Embarrassment’ to Their Families
After the Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s emergency tariffs in a 6-3 decision, he lashed out.
Trump said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” and accused them of lacking the courage to do what was right for the country. He singled out his own appointees, Gorsuch and Barrett, calling their votes “an embarrassment to their families.” He also accused the Court, without presenting evidence, of being influenced by foreign interests.
Later that day, Trump wrote that Gorsuch and Barrett voted against Republicans “almost every single time” and criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for leading the Court’s decision. Asked whether the justices remained invited to his State of the Union address, he told reporters that they were “barely invited.”
March, 2026: Says the Supreme Court ‘Ought To Be Ashamed of Itself’
Continuing his criticism of the February tariff ruling, Trump said during a White House event that the Supreme Court should "be ashamed of itself for a lot of reasons." He said the justices don't have the "guts to do what's right."
March, 2026: Says Gorsuch and Barrett ‘Sicken Me’
Trump didn't let up on the attack on the Supreme Court ruling about his tariffs. At a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in March, Trump complained that the Court had not shielded the federal government from tariff refunds.
He said Gorsuch and Barrett "sicken me" and that they're "bad for our country." He also criticized the court for not caring that they cost the United States "hundreds of billions of dollars."
April, 2026: Calls Republican-Appointed Justices ‘Weak, Stupid, and Bad'
After the tariff decision, the Supreme Court heard a birthright-citizenship case and Trump criticized the justices for the questions they asked during the hearing. He criticized the conservative justices for not sticking together as a group and for giving "Democrats win after win."
“Certain ‘Republican’ Justices have just gone weak, stupid, and bad, completely violating what they ‘supposedly’ stood for," Trump posted on Truth Social.
He went on to say the tariff ruling was an "expensive slap in the face to the U.S.A.," and called Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a "Low IQ person," although he didn't mention her by name.
Trump added that Democrats did not need to enlarge the Court because “it’s already Packed!”
May, 2026: Says Gorsuch and Barrett ‘Hurt Our Country’
Still angry about the tariff ruling and waiting on the birthright citizenship ruling, Trump issued a lengthy message on Truth Social. He initially called Gorsuch a "really smart and good man" but then criticized him for voting against the administration on tariffs.
He said the same was true for Barrett, but said he "always liked and respected" her.
“They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land.”
Trump speculated that the conservative justices oppose him at times to prove they're unbiased and independent.
“Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!” Trump concluded his post.
June, 2026: Calls the Birthright-Citizenship Decision Bad for the Country
The Court ruled 6-3 that Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship was unconstitutional or unlawful. Roberts wrote the majority opinion, while Kavanaugh concluded separately that the order violated federal law.
Trump called the outcome “too bad for our Country” and urged Congress to address the issue. He later described the decision more harshly as “a complete and total disaster for America.”
August, 2026: Amplifies Article About Birthright Citizenship Betrayal
Months after the birthright citizenship decision, Trump posted an article from attorney Mike Davis, an ally of the president's, that called the decision a "betrayal."
"The votes of professors Roberts and Barrett, who call themselves originalists, are especially despicable," Davis wrote in the article for Fox News. "Roberts, Barrett and three liberals put their vanity over our sovereignty, national security and country. This ultimate betrayal is unforgivable."
July, 2026: Barrett and Kagan Warn Congress About Escalating Threats Against Supreme Court Justices
In a rare appearance before Congress, Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan testified before House and Senate appropriations panels to request additional security funding for the Court. The justices described an increase in threats and intimidation directed at members of the federal judiciary, with Kagan warning that some threats had "come very close" to becoming reality.
Barrett recounted a recent swatting incident at her home and spoke about having to explain security risks to her children.
September, 2026: Says the Court ‘Really Let Our Country Down’ Over Mail Ballots
After the Supreme Court refused to allow new U.S. Postal Service restrictions on mail ballots to take effect for the 2026 midterms, Trump published a lengthy attack on the institution and several of his own appointees.
“The Supreme Court has really let our Country down!” he wrote. He accused certain justices of being “petrified” of Democrats, said the Court was being “bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left” and asserted that its decisions had set the country back “at least a hundred years.”
Trump specifically criticized Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett.
“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 on Truth Social.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jenni Fink and Geoffrey Rowland.
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