Vice President JD Vance said U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts was wrong when he said the judicial branch should "check the excesses" of the executive branch.
Vance made his comments in a podcast interview with Ross Douthat of The New York Times.
Roberts said the judiciary's role is to "decide cases but, in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or of the executive and that does require a degree of independence."
The Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with deporting a group of immigrants in northern Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. The Trump administration, citing national security concerns, tried to use invoke the act to speed deportations of alleged gang members.
"I think you are seeing an effort by the courts to quite literally overturn the will of the American people," Vance said. "I saw an interview with Chief Justice Roberts recently where he said the role of the court is to check the excesses of the executive. I thought that was a profoundly wrong sentiment. That's one half of his job. The other half of his job is to check the excesses of his own branch."
Vance said a country can't survive if citizens vote for immigration enforcement, only to see it tossed aside by the courts.
"That's where we are right now," Vance said. "We're going to keep working it through the immigration court process, through the Supreme Court as much as possible."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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