In a recent speech at an event promoting ideals of democracy, former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney called out recent remarks from a lawyer for ex-President Donald Trump, Alina Habba.
In a televised discussion, Habba tried to prop up prospects for Trump’s latest legal fights at the U.S. Supreme Court by pointing to what he’d ostensibly already given for one of the judges, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh faced accusations of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process. Trump consistently stood by him.
“In other words, Trump expects judges that he appoints to be biased or corrupt in his favor, to be loyal to him above the Constitution,” Cheney observed, as highlighted by Republican Accountability on X. “This is un-American, and it’s fundamentally at odds with the rule of law. One of the greatest threats that we’re facing is a president who won’t enforce the rulings of the courts.”
Cheney then noted how Trump and allies of his have obsessively attacked the judiciary as supposedly corrupt even as targeted judges have acted per established procedure and as consensus has been seen across federal courts, such as on the question of the integrity of the 2020 presidential race. The president’s cooperation is an essential part of the effectiveness of judicial decisions, Cheney said, characterizing Trump as clearly intent on a self-serving path.
The question now at the Supreme Court — which Habba was discussing — is whether Trump can appear on the ballot for the unfolding presidential race in light of his argued responsibility for the Capitol violence of January 6, 2021. Colorado’s state Supreme Court applied Constitutional provisions that would boot Trump from the ballot to the ex-president but put their ruling on hold, and Trump has since gone to the nation’s highest court.
Relatedly, a group of Democrats said Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself — meaning remove himself — from the court’s decision-making in this major, Trump-tied case on account in part of his own wife’s past support of Trump’s post-2020 election ambitions. They also pointed to Clarence’s wife Ginni’s evident financial success at a consulting business when Trump was in power, suggesting the couple has a financial incentive in him potentially returning.
.@Liz_Cheney: “Trump expects judges that he appoints to be biased or corrupt in his favor, to be loyal to him above the Constitution. This is un-American, and it’s fundamentally at odds with the rule of law.” pic.twitter.com/mQFUCQmtf1
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) January 5, 2024
