Ron DeSantis Goes After Trump's Supreme Court Justices

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis believes he can "do better" than the three conservative justices whom former President Donald Trump appointed during his four years in office.

Trump selected Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifting the nation's highest court to bend toward strong conservative principles. It has been lauded by Trump and countless Republicans as one of the former president's greatest political victories.

DeSantis, who by seemingly every metric is viewed as Trump's biggest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, made the comments during a discussion Monday with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt that revolved around the "reconstitution of government."

Hewitt said Trump "hit three home runs" with the appointments, leading to question whether DeSantis would "make the same kind of pledge" to appoint judges nationally in a similar conservative vein.

"Well, actually, I would say we'll do better than that," DeSantis said. "I mean, I respect the three appointees he did, but none of those three are at the same level of Justice Thomas and Justice Alito. I think they are the gold standard, and so my justices will be along the lines of a Sam Alito and a Clarence Thomas."

The Florida governor then touted his state's judicial record since his election in 2018, after inheriting "maybe the most liberal [court] in the country.

"I was able to replace three of the four liberals my first month in office with conservative justices," he said. "I've since been able to make a number of appointments since then. So, we now have the most conservative state Supreme Court in the country.

"And so, I think we have a really good track record on doing that. And in fact, two of my Supreme Court picks in my first year of office were elevated to the 11th Circuit by [Trump]."

The Trump campaign didn't take long to pounce back.

"Today, Ron DeSanctimonious bizarrely announced he does not support the three Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices who overturned the Roe v. Wade decision," the Trump campaign said in a statement.

The statement added: "Ron's latest flip-flop has left many wondering if he tripped in his high-heel boots and hit his head or is simply hallucinating from his disastrous event in Oklahoma last weekend, as he seems to have forgotten countless statements he made in the past praising President Trump's nominations of Justice Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett."

Trump officials resurfaced old DeSantis tweets where he praised the former president for his various Supreme Court appointments—including one tweet comparing the selection of Gorsuch to former Justice Antonin Scalia.

"If you created a nominee from scratch with the goal of filling Scalia's large shoes, such a nominee would look a lot like Neil Gorsuch," DeSantis wrote in 2017.

In a Fox Business interview conducted after Kavanaugh was selected by Trump to fill another vacancy, DeSantis told host Lou Dobbs that Trump "made a good choice" selecting a candidate with "a top-flight intellect" and "an impeccable pedigree."

Barrett, who was appointed in the last year of Trump's term after the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was deemed "an outstanding choice" by DeSantis—who in a tweet endorsed her "exemplary legal career."

"She will apply the law of the Constitution faithfully & serve as an inspiration to millions of our fellow citizens," DeSantis wrote.

The Trump campaign said that DeSantis' heaps of praise of Trump continued following the governor's "tearful and desperate pleas for an endorsement," pointing to what he said during one gubernatorial primary debate.

"I think that Donald Trump has done a better job appointing judges to both the U.S. Supreme Court and the appeals court than any other president in my lifetime—including one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan," DeSantis said.

The Trump campaign referred Newsweek to its issued statement, not adding further comment. Newsweek has reached out via email to the DeSantis campaign.

These new attacks come after Trump's second indictment, which DeSantis has criticized due to the "weaponization" of the Department of Justice and FBI. He didn't go so far as to mention Trump directly, nor has he given any indication that he would pardon the former president if Trump is found guilty of any charges, should DeSantis become president.

"I think the dance being done here reflects the fact that DeSantis and most others who want to get the nomination know that the vast majority of GOP voters are impervious to any evidence of wrongdoing leveled against Trump," Timothy Weaver, associate professor of political science at the University of Albany, told Newsweek via email.

"Their ideal scenario would be for the Justice Department to remove Trump from the equation and for them to subsequently inherit his supporters. But for this to work, they can't risk alienating them too much. Hence, the prevarication."

Those who have been most critical of Trump over his federal charges, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, GOP candidate Chris Christie and Utah Senator Mitt Romney, are either not seeking the nomination or highly unlikely to receive it under any circumstance, Weaver added.