COURTS/OBAMA/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts are clashing over the independence of America’s judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an ‘Obama judge.’ Roberts has issued a strongly worded statement says there’s no such thing. Trump is defending his own comment, tweeting defiantly, ‘Sorry Justice Roberts.’ The pre-Thanksgiving dustup is the first time Roberts, the Republican-appointed leader of the federal judiciary, has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has several times blasted federal judges who have ruled against him. Before now, it has been highly unusual for a president to single out judges for personal criticism. And a chief justice’s challenge to a president’s comments is downright unprecedented.”
–The Associated Press, “The Latest: Trump, Roberts Clash Over Judiciary Independence, ” The New York Times online, November 21, 2018