2026-07-24 · contested story

Kagan Says Supreme Court Has Stood Up to Trump in Key Cases

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan made rare public remarks at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Sacramento, California, addressing the Supreme Court's ethics code and its handling of cases, including those involving the Trump administration. Her comments touched on the need for enforcement mechanisms in the Court's code of conduct, concerns about the proliferation of concurrences, and frustration with the abuse of the Court's emergency docket. She also rejected characterizations of the Court as a 'rubber stamp' for the Trump administration. The framing of Kagan's remarks varies significantly across the political spectrum. Left-leaning outlets emphasize her criticism of the Supreme Court's conservative majority for giving President Trump expansive powers, particularly regarding independent agencies, and her concerns about institutional integrity. Center outlets focus on her call for ethics enforcement mechanisms and her defense of the Court against charges of partisanship. Right-leaning sources highlight her rejection of claims that the Court is biased toward Trump and criticize her positions as politically motivated or inconsistent, with some arguing her concerns come too late given past judicial conduct.

How each side frames it

left
"Justice Elena Kagan slammed the Supreme Court's conservative majority Monday for handing 'full control' of independent agencies to President Donald Trump by allowing him to fire anyone he wants 'for any reason or no reason at all.'"
"Trump 'may now remove—so says the majority, though Congress said differently—any member he wishes, for any reason or no reason at all. And he may thereby extinguish the agencies' bipartisanship and independence,' Kagan wrote."
"Under the guise of upholding the principle of 'separation of powers', the court reinterpreted the constitution and shifted power away from Congress to the president."
"Already in Trump's second term, the court has given the president unprecedented power at the expense of Congress."
"'Ethics rules without an enforcement mechanism are just empty words,' said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center"
center
"I think that the rules that we put out are good ones. I think that the thing that can be criticized is, you know, rules usually have enforcement mechanisms attached to them. And this one, this set of rules does not."
"As I explained in Wilcox, we held in Humphrey's that independent agencies like the CPSC (and NLRB and MSPB) do not violate the Constitution's separation of powers. On the Court's emergency docket—which means 'on a short fuse without benefit of full briefing and oral argument'—the majority has effectively expunged Humphrey's from the U.S."
"Kagan specifically pointed to the court's decision in US v. Rahimi, a major Second Amendment case the court decided earlier this year in which the majority upheld a federal ban on domestic abusers having guns. Though the ruling was 8-1, with Roberts writing for the majority, a flurry of separate writings from many members of the court were also issued."
"I can't think of other people who should enforce a code of conduct … against judges. And I think it would be quite bad … for us to do it to each other. In other words, for the same judges who are sitting around the table trying to decide cases, to be to be the people who are saying, 'Oh, no, you broke that rule or you didn't break that rule.'"
"Not all judges who were interviewed shared that view. Some were more reluctant to criticize the justices. A judge appointed by President Barack Obama said that while the Supreme Court could do more to explain itself, some lower court judges had been out of line in blocking Trump policies."
right
"Justice Elena Kagan's recent comments at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference condemning attacks on judges and the Supreme Court deserve both praise and pointed criticism. While she is correct that vilifying judges can foment violence and that protests at the homes of justices should not be allowed, her sudden concern for judicial security and institutional integrity rings hollow"
"'I don't see this as a court that is just like, 'We're just going to rubber stamp what the current administration does.' You know, quite the opposite,' Kagan said to a judicial conference here Thursday. 'I think that that is a bad rap.'"
"You just have to deal with the fact that there's a conservative court doing things that conservative jurists have long thought it appropriate to do, and I can really dislike that. But it has nothing to do, I think, with becoming the arm of this current administration"
"Where was Justice Kagan's newfound concern for judicial civility and security during the unprecedented harassment of her conservative colleagues over the past several years? When protesters gathered outside the homes of justices with young children and doxed their schools, when they and their family members faced death threats, when justices were hounded in restaurants and at home, and when there was an assassination attempt against Justice Kavanaugh—Justice Kagan remained silent."
"Putting the FTC and other alphabet agencies back under presidential control doesn't make the chief executive omnipotent; it makes the bureaucrats answerable to someone who is answerable to the voters."

What each side left out

The left left out — covered by the Reason
The left left out — covered by the Reason
The right left out — covered by the NBC News
The right left out — covered by the NBC News
The center left out — covered by the National Review
The center left out — covered by the Fox News (Supreme Court Opinion)

What's actually true?

[verified] The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling allowing Trump to remove FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter
[verified] Kagan said the Supreme Court code of conduct lacks an enforcement mechanism
[verified] Kagan stated she believes the Chief Justice could appoint a committee of highly respected judges to enforce ethics rules
[verified] The U.S. Marshals Service investigated more than 1,000 serious threats against judges over the past five years
[verified] Kagan rejected characterizations of the Supreme Court as a 'rubber stamp' for Trump, calling it a 'bad rap'
[verified] The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Trump's tariff authority under IEEPA
[verified] Kagan criticized the number of concurrences issued by justices as 'not a good thing for the court'
[verified] The Trump administration has filed 23 emergency requests to the Supreme Court since January, with the Court granting 17

The narrative clash

Whether Kagan views the Court as partisan toward Trump
Left: Justice Elena Kagan slammed the Supreme Court's conservative majority Monday for handing 'full control' of independent agencies to President Donald Trump
Right: I don't see this as a court that is just like, 'We're just going to rubber stamp what the current administration does.' You know, quite the opposite. I think that that is a bad rap.
Whether the Court's conservative decisions reflect Trump favoritism or longstanding judicial philosophy
Left: Under the guise of upholding the principle of 'separation of powers', the court reinterpreted the constitution and shifted power away from Congress to the president.
Right: You just have to deal with the fact that there's a conservative court doing things that conservative jurists have long thought it appropriate to do, and I can really dislike that. But it has nothing to do, I think, with becoming the arm of this current administration
Kagan's consistency on institutional concerns
Left: Kagan praised the content of the ethics rules created last fall but noted that the lack of an enforcement mechanism was troubling.
Right: Where was Justice Kagan's newfound concern for judicial civility and security during the unprecedented harassment of her conservative colleagues over the past several years? When protesters gathered outside the homes of justices with young children and doxed their schools, when they and their family members faced death threats, when justices were hounded in restaurants and at home, and when there was an assassination attempt against Justice Kavanaugh—Justice Kagan remained silent.

12 sources analyzed

The Conversation en.wikipedia.org Newsweek The New Republic us.cnn.com slate.com Fox News truthout.org Reason NY Post Nat Review NBC News

Perspectivity reads the coverage — not just who published it.

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