Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax: Justice Ignored Precedence of Attacking Judges

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who this week condemned the attacks President Donald Trump and his allies have made against judges who are blocking the administration's policies, failed to take historic precedent into her comments, according to Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Newsmax Friday.

"This is not new," Dershowitz told Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "Thomas Jefferson attacked judges appointed by John Adams much, much more ferociously. [Abraham] Lincoln attacked judges, indeed, suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Franklin Delano Roosevelt intimidated judges, threatened that he would pack the court, and that resulted in the switch in time that saved nine."

Jackson, speaking at a judges' conference in Puerto Rico Thursday, said that the attacks against judges are "not random" but are designed to "intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity," reported Politico.

She also called the threats from the administration "attacks on our democracy, on our system of government," and said they "ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law."

But Dershowitz told host Greta Van Susteren that Jackson has "no credibility unless she puts her criticisms in historical context" and goes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for his comments about the judiciary or after other judges.

"Arguments between the judiciary and the executive are as old as our nation," Dershowitz said.

Dershowitz acknowledged that he also says "rotten things about judges," adding he'll "continue to do so as long as judges do rotten things and don't obey the Constitution."

Judges are not above the law, he continued.

"The judge who sat on the disgraceful New York trial of Donald Trump for doing something that wasn't even illegal deserves condemnation," Dershowitz said, referring to Trump's records case.

"The judge in D.C., who didn't recuse himself, notwithstanding the fact that his daughter is deeply involved in deportation — these judges deserve to be criticized. I will continue to criticize them, as I have in my 60-year career."

Judges, he added, "deserve acceptance based only on the quality of their opinions, not on the fact that they're wearing robes."

Dershowitz also argued that lawyers who won't fight against judges are "cowards" who are afraid on behalf of their clients.

"I have been in courtrooms where judges have done horrible things, and the lawyers whispered to me, 'Oh, my God, I wish I had the guts to stand up and tell him what I think,'" he said. "But judges take it out on lawyers who don't treat them with the kind of reverence that they want to be treated with. So I'm completely in favor of judges being subject to scrutiny and to criticism."

Dershowitz also said that Trump's convictions in New York will be appealed, even though a sentence wasn't handed down, and he believes it will ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

"He gave a sentence that was a nonsentence, but it's enough to end the case and allow him to appeal," said Dershowitz of New York Judge Juan Merchan. "The court may say, 'Wait a minute. There was no sentence, so we have no jurisdiction.'

"I don't think they're going to do that. I think they're going to handle the appeal. I think they're going to reverse the conviction. And if they don't reverse the conviction, a higher court will. This is the weakest case in my 60 years of practicing law that I have ever seen."

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