Schumer Gives Away the Judicial Game in PBS Interview
After defending his vote for the Republican spending bill during a Wednesday interview on PBS’s NewsHour, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shifted to what he called some “good news.” He expressed immense pride in his party’s appointment of 235 progressive judges during his tenure as majority leader. Just as Democrats had intended, the party’s efforts are now yielding results. He said:
We did put 235 judges, progressive judges, judges not under the control of Trump, last year on the bench, and they are ruling against Trump time after time after time.And we hope that the appellate courts, when it gets up there and the Supreme Court will uphold those rulings.They restored the money to NIH. They required that 8,000 federal employees have to come back. We’re in over 100 lawsuits against them and we are having a good deal of success. It’s only at the lower court level right now.
Good job Chuck. But can we even call this new crop of radical activists—who, rather than applying relevant laws and precedents to the facts of a case, base their rulings on the political affiliations of the plaintiff and defendant—judges?
I suppose it doesn’t matter to Schumer. These activists in black robes are undoubtedly fulfilling the purpose for which they were appointed, and for that, the minority leader is grateful. Having lost the White House and control of both chambers of Congress in November, these judges now serve as the Democrats’ only remaining leverage against Republicans. And with support for the Democratic Party at its lowest level in more than 30 years, they must use every weapon at their disposal in order to survive.
But the good times for the Democrats may not last forever. In fact, the battle between Leftist judges and President Donald Trump appeared to reach a tipping point last night.
Furious over the Trump Justice Department’s “woefully insufficient” response to his request for details about last weekend’s flights of approximately 250 alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, District Court Judge James Boasberg issued a scathing new order Thursday evening, outlining a fresh set of demands with strict deadlines for compliance.
Upon learning of Boasberg’s order, Trump, who has largely complied with this unprecedented deluge of nationwide injunctions so far, had finally reached his limit and took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to urge the Supreme Court to put an end to the madness.
His lengthy message began: “Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country! These people are Lunatics, who do not care, even a little bit, about the repercussions from their very dangerous and incorrect Decisions and Rulings.”
Trump rightly noted, “Lawyers endlessly search the United States for these Judges, and file lawsuits as quickly as they find them. It is then the obligation of Law abiding Agencies of Government to have these “Orders” overturned. The danger is unparalleled!”
“These Judges want to assume the Powers of the Presidency.”
Trump pointed out that “a President has to be allowed to act quickly and decisively” to keep Americans safe which is impossible “if Radical and Highly Partisan Judges are allowed to stand in the way of JUSTICE.”
He concluded with a demand for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to “STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” If they “do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!”
Trump is right. A handful of highly partisan district judges are trying to usurp the power of the presidency. Their nationwide injunctions and temporary restraining orders are a deliberate attempt to obstruct – or at least delay – Trump from exercising the authority granted to him by a majority of the electorate in a free and fair election. This is an abuse of judicial power. And at the moment, Roberts appears to be the only man in America with the means to stop it.
In addition, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced on Thursday he will be “introducing a bill next week to require this type of request for injunctive relief to go before a three-judge district court, with a direct appeal to SCOTUS.”
This legislation would make it “far more difficult” to carry out the single judge injunctions, he wrote.
Similarly, House Republicans introduced H. R. 97, the Injunctive Authority Clarification Act of 2025 on Jan. 3, perhaps in anticipation of the Democrats’ use of district court judges to thwart Trump’s agenda.
Do Democrats truly believe it’s wise to wage such a blatantly partisan lawfare campaign against Trump? Despite their collective case of TDS, Trump is simply carrying out the very agenda he campaigned on—one that a majority of voters supported.
And Americans are watching as the Democrats escalate the situation. Unlike in the past, they no longer bother to conceal it. Their base may be happy, but the independents whose votes they’ll need as soon as the 2026 midterms? Not so much.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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