Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

World Press Freedom Day, 2024

Democrats hope move to reschedule marijuana will help them in November

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

What makes a great Met Gala outfit

Police march toward Columbia University gate

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

Local sports networks go dark mid-game amid dispute with Comcast 

Miss Manners: Offering my bedroom to guests

Carolyn Hax: Will request for a postnup offend much younger wife?

Ask Amy: My wife’s sister confessed her feelings for me

Blinded in battle, these Ukrainian soldiers will never see their new babies 

Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America. 

Middle East conflict live updates: Blinken urges Hamas to accept deal, says pier for aid close to completion

Biden’s internet-for-all program needs Musk’s help

The tech billionaires who helped ban TikTok want to write AI rules for Trump

Microsoft’s “responsible AI” chief worries about the open web

Taxes are inevitable. Paying to prepare them doesn’t have to be.

A murder plot that cannot be ignored: India must come clean at last

How to confront antisemitism, deal with protests — and respect free speech

Adaptive adventures are making national parks more inclusive

Southwest passengers now get a $75 voucher for big flight disruptions

Man arrested at Yellowstone for allegedly kicking bison while drunk

Trevor Williams’s escape act helps Nationals blank Rangers 

How to make the most of Passport DC’s free embassy tours

Dose of adversity gives Dylan Crews a new perspective in Class AA

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

I learned to heal my sadness by cradling dying chickens 

US President Joe Biden Departure

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

There is saying the quiet part out loud, and then there’s what Trump lawyer Alina Habba just did.

Addressing the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/03/trump-colorado-ballot-appeal/" target=_blank>Supreme Court’s looming 14th Amendment decisions</a> on whether <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> can be disqualified from state ballots for engaging in insurrection, Habba decided it would be a good time to remind people of just how much Trump has done for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

“I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court; I have faith in them,” Habba said on Fox News. “You know, people like Kavanaugh who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place, he’ll step up.”

Habba quickly added the disclaimer that the justices “will step up not because they’re pro-Trump, but because they’re pro-law, because they’re pro-fairness.” And she has since done <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alina-habba-defends-brett-kavanaugh-remarks-trump-colorado-1858058" target=_blank>some cleanup work</a>, trying to assure audiences that she wasn’t suggesting that Kavanaugh owed Trump loyalty.

One is that, despite Habba’s cleanup effort, she was clearly pointing in the direction of Kavanaugh (and potentially others) being beholden to Trump; there is no other reason to invoke the supposed favors Trump did for Kavanaugh. This adds to a volume of evidence that indicates that Trump does indeed expect loyalty from judges and justices — along with plenty of others in positions where that shouldn’t be a consideration.

The second point is that this is potentially counterproductive.

Trump’s record on such issues is unambiguous. He has made clear he expects judges to toe his line, and he looks for loyalty in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/12/19/trumps-never-ending-search-for-loyalty-in-all-the-wrong-places/" target="_blank">all the wrong places</a> — from officials who are supposed to be insulated from politics. That starts with but is hardly limited to an FBI director whose investigation threatened Trump, James B. Comey. “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/i-expect-loyalty-trump-told-comey-according-to-written-testimony/2017/06/07/46413298-4bab-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html" target="_blank">I need loyalty, I expect loyalty</a>,” Comey testified that Trump told him in 2017 before Trump fired him.

The Washington Post has reported that, also in 2017, Trump considered pulling the nomination of now-Justice Neil M. Gorsuch because of a perceived lack of loyalty. Gorsuch had in a confirmation interview with a Democratic senator expressed displeasure with Trump’s attacks on judges, calling them “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”

As The Post’s Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Robert Barnes <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-reportedly-considered-rescinding-gorsuchs-nomination/2017/12/18/ad2b3b68-e1c7-11e7-9eb6-e3c7ecfb4638_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_gorsuch-9pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory" target="_blank">reported</a>:

The president worried that Gorsuch would not be “loyal,” one of the people said, and told aides that he was tempted to pull Gorsuch’s nomination — and that he knew plenty of other judges who would want the job.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly suggested that judges he nominated would rule in predictable ways, including on issues such as Roe v. Wade. “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/06/21/483018976/inside-trumps-closed-door-meeting-held-to-reassures-the-evangelicals" target="_blank">If it’s my judges, you know how they’re gonna decide</a>,” he assured evangelicals at one point.

Trump in 2022 also bristled after the Supreme Court declined to help him shield his tax returns from the House Ways and Means Committee.

“Many Republican Judges go out of their way to show they are beyond reproach, &amp; will come down hard on people before them in order to prove they cannot be ‘bought’ or in any way show favor to those who appointed them,” Trump <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-complains-judges-he-appointed-wont-give-him-special-treatment-as-soon-as-they-get-appointed-they-go-rogue/" target=_blank>said on Truth Social</a>, adding: “As soon as they get appointed, they go ‘ROGUE!’”

Trump suggested that this was a contrast to judges appointed by Democrats, who were more apt to toe the party’s line.

But that last point also shows how Habba’s comment could be ill-advised, even beyond the ethics of it.

Whatever you think of Trump’s expressed sentiment about relative party loyalty, it’s true that judges are fiercely protective of the perception that they are independent. Yes, judges and even Supreme Court justices often rule in predictable ways that align with the party that appointed them. But crucial to the legitimacy of the court is the idea that they aren’t just political operatives doing the bidding of their allies.

Habba’s comments — and Trump’s past comments — basically set the narrative that Trump is working the justices. And any favorable decision for Trump could be viewed as bowing to that pressure. Whether it affects Kavanaugh’s thought process or not, it puts him in a box.

While the conventional wisdom is that the court would side with Trump in the 14th Amendment case, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/04/could-supreme-court-actually-disqualify-trump/" target=_blank>not all legal scholars take that for granted</a>. Trump is reportedly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/12/29/haberman-trump-maine-colorado-ballot-supreme-court-tsr-vpx.cnn" target=_blank>somewhat worried</a>. And the Supreme Court has <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/168170/trump-supreme-court-client-cases" target=_blank>gone against Trump on several key issues</a>.

Could the Supreme Court actually disqualify Trump?

Kavanaugh in his 2018 confirmation hearings was asked about this very subject. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) cited Trump’s demand for loyalty from Comey, and he asked Kavanaugh to address the “credible suspicion” that Trump might have chosen Kavanaugh believing the justice would protect him.

Kavanaugh responded that “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/kavanaugh-hearing-dle/h_b0b377bb83cf4d0438cd784d599bfc17" target="_blank">my only loyalty is to the Constitution</a>, and I’ve made that clear and I’m an independent judge.”

Trump has since expressed displeasure with Kavanaugh when Kavanaugh has demonstrated a measure of independence in some key cases. Trump said in an interview for a 2021 book that Kavanaugh “hasn’t had the courage you need to be a great justice.”

Trump added: “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/07/13/trump-kavanaugh-supreme-court-michael-wolff" target=_blank>Where would he be without me? I saved his life.</a> He wouldn’t even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him.”

It seems like no accident that Trump’s lawyer has now invoked basically the same argument, while attaching it to a crucial looming decision.

Whether it’s smart to keep barking up that tree is another matter.

University of Minnesota

Aaron Blake is senior political reporter, writing for The Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Hill newspaper.

Aaron Blake

washpost

Alina Habba suggests Brett Kavanaugh owes Trump, amid 14th Amendment case

the-washington-post

POOL

Trump Fraud Lawsuit

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Politics

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix?limit=20

The Washington Post's political analysis blog.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.