KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined a chorus of Supreme Court colleagues acknowledging that many federal judges feel beleaguered, although he did so without directly mentioning the fusillade of verbal attacks President Donald Trump and his supporters have leveled at judges, including calling for their impeachment.
“The judges have difficult jobs — face a lot of pressure to get it right, face a lot of criticism, have to keep their eye on the ball, and I just want all the judges in the room to know how much I appreciate what they do,” Kavanaugh said at a judicial conference Thursday. “It’s a lot to deal with all the things that are coming at you,” he added.
The Trump appointee addressed a variety of issues during an hourlong onstage conversation before a gathering here of 8th Circuit judges and lawyers, including the high court’s use of the so-called emergency docket and what he said was an inaccurate perception of a court divided into warring ideological camps.
Kavanaugh also made clear he closely follows press coverage, podcasts and social media posts about the Supreme Court, what he described as “an ocean of criticism and critiques out there.”
