As Donald Trump reels from his criminal conviction, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Supreme Court — which is facing congressional scrutiny over two justices’ ethics issues — should “step in” and overturn Trump’s guilty verdict.
“There’s a lot of developments yet to come, but I do believe the Supreme Court should step in, obviously,” the Louisiana Republican told “Fox & Friends” on Friday. “I think that the justices on the court — I know many of them personally — I think they’re deeply concerned about that as we are. So I think they’ll set this straight, but it’s going to take awhile.”
He added: “This will be overturned, guys, there’s no question about it. It’s just going to take some time to do it.”
Johnson is referring to the lengthy process that Trump’s appeal of the conviction must go through before it could land in front of the justices. The New York Times points out that “it is exceedingly difficult for a state defendant to reach the Supreme Court without exhausting state appeals.” But that the House speaker would express such confidence about how the high court might rule does little to inspire confidence in an institution that is dealing with multiple ethics scandals, accusations of politicization and near-record low levels of public trust.
What’s more, Johnson’s talk of his chumminess with several justices appears to undermine Chief Justice John Roberts’ justification for refusing to meet with Senate Democrats over Justice Samuel Alito’s flag controversies. Roberts told Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., that meeting the leaders of only one party may raise concerns about separation of powers and judicial independence.
Yet in suggesting that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of Trump, Johnson claimed that Democrats were “risk[ing] the destruction of the entire legal system” to defeat Trump, and that the verdict erodes public faith in the justice system. “People have to believe that justice is fair, that there’s equal justice under law,” he said. “They don’t see that right now.” Johnson’s remarks reflect the ease with which Republicans, following in Trump’s norm-breaking footsteps, are willing to manipulate the justice system to their own ends — even as they accuse Democrats of weaponizing that same institution against them.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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