It’s not uncommon to hear that the Supreme Court is one of the last places where honest-to-goodness decorum still exists.
Not only is the political temperature tamped way down during oral arguments, but the justices even have something known as the “Judicial handshake” to show camaraderie before making crucial decisions.
So when two justices are sniping at each other in a public forum, like Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson did, it’s naturally going to raise a few eyebrows.
On Monday, the two justices were present at an event for lawyers and judges held in Washington, per NBC News.
According to the Associated Press, the two were part of a panel where a federal judge would ask them both questions.
The outlet added, “The occasion was an annual lecture in memory of a former federal judge and prosecutor, Thomas A. Flannery.”
The Associated Press reported that when the discussion came to the topic of whether or not the Supreme Court was ruling too frequently in favor of President Donald Trump’s administration in emergency situations, Jackson — a liberal judge and frequent dissenter from the conservative majority — decided to air out some dirty laundry.
“The administration is making new policy… and then insisting the new policy take effect immediately, before the challenge is decided,” Jackson said. “I just feel like this uptick in the court’s willingness to get involved… is a real unfortunate problem.”
She contended, “It’s not serving the court or this country well.”
(The Associated Press noted that these remarks were met with “loud applause.”)
Unfazed, Kavanaugh fired back in a rare public rebuke of a fellow Justice.
“None of us enjoy this,” he said of the trend where the Supreme Court is taking on many emergency injunctions from the Trump administration.
Kavanaugh further explained, “We have to have the same position regardless of who is president,” which was apparently at least one sentiment that he and Jackson agreed on.
According to NBC News, outside of the matter of whether or not the Supreme Court has been too eager to help prop up Trump’s agenda, the two actually agreed on virtually everything else.
One such area where the two wholeheartedly agreed was that threats of violence against judges had no place in society.
Kavanaugh, 61, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018 by President Donald Trump.
Jackson, 55, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2022 by former President Joe Biden.
Kavanaugh, a conservative, has largely fit in on the bench. Jackson, a progressive, meanwhile seems to have a knack for alienating even her fellow liberal justices.
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