During a Gran scope interview With the New York Times published on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said that the president of the Justice Court, John Roberts, was “deeply mistaken” for the recent comments he made about the role of the Supreme Court to verify the excess of the Executive.
“I thought it was a deeply wrong feeling. That is half of his work. The other half of his work is to verify the excesses of his own branch,” Vance said. “You cannot have a country where the American people continue to choose the application of the immigration law and the courts tell the US people so they are not allowed to have what they voted. That’s where we are now,” Vance continued.
Vance’s comments occurred while discussing the administration’s immigration policies and initiatives, which have encountered rapid legal actions. Vance said the White House believes Trump “has extraordinary plenary power.”
“I think you are seeing, and I know that this is inflammatory, but I think you are seeing an effort from the courts to literally revoke the will of the American people. To be clear, they are not most of the courts,” Vance said.
Vice President JD Vance speaks with journalists aboard the Dos Air Force at the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, in Rome, on May 19, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Earlier this month, Roberts comments on Buffalo, New York, where he emphasized the importance of judicial independence and how the Judiciary is a co-equivalent branch of the government.
“In our Constitution, the judges and the Judiciary is a coefficient branch of the government, separated from others with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and obviously demolish acts of the Congress or acts of the president,” Roberts said. “And that innovation does not work if it is not the Judiciary is not independent. His work is obviously deciding the cases, but in the course of that, verify the excesses of the Congress or the Executive, and that requires a certain degree of independence.”
Vance’s comments are part of a broader argument that the White House has been doing for months: that the President has the Executive Authority to promulgate immigration policies, regardless of what the courts can say.
John Roberts, president of the Supreme Court, speaks during the conference to the graduation class of the 2025 Georgetown Law Faculty, in Washington, DC, May 12, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
On Friday, the Supreme Court extended its court order that temporarily prohibits the Trump administration to eliminate Venezuelan immigrants from the United States.
Discussing the use of the administration of the Alien Alien Enemies Law, Vance defended the use of the law by the White House and said that the courts must be “extremely deferens.”
“I think the courts must be something deferens. In fact, I think the design is that they should be extremely deferens to these issues of political trial made by the elected president of the United States,” said Vance.
