Overview
- Justice Elena Kagan told a Ninth Circuit judicial conference Thursday that the Supreme Court is not a puppet for President Trump and that the charge is a bad rap.
- Kagan pointed to recent split rulings that rejected the president’s sweeping tariffs and his bid to end birthright citizenship as evidence the Court has checked the executive.
- News coverage also notes the Court sided with the Trump administration in the majority of cases this term, including rulings that upheld parts of his immigration policies and expanded executive authority.
- Kagan described the president’s April attendance at oral argument in the birthright citizenship case as a 'non-event' and said he left about halfway through the session.
- She reiterated support for a panel of retired judges to enforce the Supreme Court’s 2023 code of conduct, a proposal that seeks to address public mistrust even though no enforcement system has been agreed on.