President Donald Trump has privately expressed frustration about the Supreme Court justices he appointed, mostly complaining about Justice Amy Coney Barrett, three people familiar with the conversations told ABC News.
Those sources said the president conveyed that the justices he appointed could do more to back his agenda.
Several Trump allies have also taken their complaints about Barrett directly to the president, labeling her as “weak.”
President Donald Trump arrives to introduce 7th U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden at the White House, Sept. 26, 2020.
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Others have expressed their viewpoints publicly, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Conservative lawyer Mike Davis recently said on Steve Bannon’s podcast, “She’s a rattled law professor with her head up her a–.” Davis, a Trump ally, is in frequent communication with the president, sources have told ABC News.
Justice Barrett has not commented on brewing right-wing criticism of her votes from the bench nor would she be expected to: members of the court almost never engage directly, much less in the moment, with political critiques.
A senior administration official and additional sources familiar with Trump’s thinking tell ABC News the president is looking to nominate judges in the mold of Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and late Antonin Scalia.
Barrett is a former Scalia law clerk, which Trump and Barrett both highlighted when he announced her as his nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.
“Particularly poignant to me was her long and deep friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, my own mentor,” Barrett said in the White House Rose Garden at the time. Maureen Scalia was also in the audience.
In a statement to ABC News, principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields stated: “President Trump will always stand with the U.S. Supreme Court, unlike the Democrat Party, which, if given the opportunity, would pack the court, ultimately undermining its integrity. The president may disagree with the Court and some of its rulings, but he will always respect its foundational role.”
CNN was first reported Trump’s private frustration with Barret Tuesday.
While the president has privately complained about Barrett, it is notable that he has not attacked her publicly.
Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group photo following the recent addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill, Oct. 7, 2022.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump defended her after she sided with the court’s liberal justices ruling the Trump administration must unfreeze foreign aid payment.
“She’s a very good woman. She’s very smart, and I don’t know about people attacking her, I really don’t know,” Trump told reporters.
However, Trump recently attacked Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, who advised him on judicial nominations during his first term, calling him a ‘sleazebag.’
“I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous judicial nominations,” Trump wrote.