Donald Trump slammed Chief Justice John Roberts and named Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas as his favorite judge on the high court, the Associated Press reports.
“Justice Roberts really let us [conservatives] down. What he did with Obamacare was disgraceful, and I think he did that because he wanted to be popular inside the Beltway,” Trump told about 4,000 supporters at an event hosted by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The Republican presidential candidate was referring to Roberts’ decisions in favor of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law in two court cases.
Trump described Thomas, the only black justice on the Supreme Court, as “very strong and consistent.”
While Thomas is the high court’s sole black justice, his decisions and behavior during oral arguments tend to be at odds with most African Americans. Most recently, many blacks heard Thomas’ loud silence when Associate Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that African Americans are better-suited for “slower-track schools where they do well.” Thomas probably looked the other way because he has made similar suggestions in other cases.
Thomas was on the losing side earlier this year when a majority of justices voted to save a key component of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which outlaws housing discrimination.
In his dissenting opinion, Thomas pointed to the disproportionate number of black professional basketball players to argue that the existence of racial disparities does not necessarily indicate that racism exists.
Trump gave his assessment of the two justices when Wilson asked what kinds of judges he would appoint as president.
“We want smart, conservative, and we want people that are truly in love with the Constitution,” Trump said, according to AP.
Read more at the Associated Press.
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