White House reactions to unfavorable court rulings appeared designed to undermine confidence in the judiciary.
Most Americans have never heard of the U.S. Court of International Trade, which has wide-ranging authority over trade matters.
But after a three-judge panel ruled against the president’s aggressive tariff regime Wednesday evening, the response from President Trump and his allies was both immediate and familiar.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, called the decision a “judicial coup” on social media.
“We are living under a judicial tyranny,” Mr. Miller added on Thursday, reposting photos of the three trade court judges. Two of the judges were Republican appointees, one named to the bench by Mr. Trump.
Even by the judge-bashing standards of the Trump administration, the White House’s sharp reactions this week to court decisions curtailing its agenda appeared to intensify a strategic effort to undermine confidence in the judiciary.
“Trump’s attack on the judges is an attempt to undo the separation of powers,” Ty Cobb, a lawyer who defended Mr. Trump in a special counsel investigation in his first term, said in an interview. “It’s an attempt to take what is three coequal branches and make it one dominant branch.”
