Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Comes Under MAGA Fire

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson came under fire from supporters of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement after she was the only justice to note her dissent in a case related to the Trump administration’s immigration authority.

Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court for comment via email on Monday.

The Context

MAGA took aim at Jackson after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for potentially hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants.

The justices did not explain the reason for their decision in favor of the Trump administration, as is typical when the Supreme Court rules on emergency requests. Jackson was the only justice to say that she would not have overturned a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked the administration from revoking TPS.

What To Know

Trump supporters and other far-right internet personalities started taking aim at Jackson—the most recent Supreme Court appointee and first Black woman on the bench—over the weekend, after former President Joe Biden announced he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.

“I will ask this again: Was Ketanji Brown Jackson a legally-nominated Supreme Court Justice if the person who appointed her lacked capacity?” right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after Biden’s announcement.

After the court issued its decision on Trump’s efforts to revoke TPS for Venezuelan migrants, the Oregon Republican Party posted on X: “You have to wonder who chose Ketanji Brown Jackson for a seat on SCOTUS.”

Oli London, a controversial British media personality who frequently rails against “woke” ideology, wrote on X: “Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only Supreme Court Justice to object to removing deportation protections for 350,000 illegal Venezuelan migrants. How would you describe her?”

Accompanying London’s post was a video of Jackson’s 2024 debut Broadway performance in Juliet.

Keith and Kevin Hodge, the hosts of the conservative podcast The Twins Pod, posted on X: “Ketanji Brown Jackson is an illegitimate Justice and should be removed from the court.”

Jackson has frequently been the target of Trump supporters’ ire. Their criticisms kicked into high gear over the weekend after Biden’s office released a statement announcing his cancer diagnosis.

The former president’s health and fitness for office made headlines during the 2024 campaign, after Biden had a dismal debate performance against Trump, who was then the Republican nominee. Among other things, Biden appeared to repeatedly lose his train of thought, made halting statements and stared blankly into the audience.

Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson highlighted those issues in their new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

In addition to painting a damaging portrait of the former president as an aging man whose physical health was rapidly declining, Tapper and Thompson reported that Biden’s advisers went to extreme lengths to conceal the seriousness of the issue from the public.

Newsweek previously reached out to Joe and Jill Biden’s office for comment on the book.

What People Are Saying

In response to one anecdote in the book, a spokesperson for the former president defended Biden, telling Tapper and Thompson in a statement: “No one has been able to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite—he was a very effective president. Evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.”

Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi, issued a fiery statement defending her grandfather on Monday, writing on X: “Just read a copy of this silly book, and if anyone is curious for a review from someone who lived it first-hand: this book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class. The ones who rarely enter the arena, but profit from the spectacle of those that do. Put simply, it amounts to a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck. It relies on unnamed, anonymous sources pushing a self-serving false narrative that absolves them of any responsibility for our current national nightmare.”

She added: “All of this at the expense of a man so completely good and honest that it is impossible for these people to ever understand the why or how of it all. There are real stories to be told and one day they will be. I suspect history will reward the truth.”

This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.