Washington — Justice Amy Coney Barrett said she sharply responded to a dissenting opinion from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in a recent ruling on nationwide injunctions because Jackson had made a “spirited argument” that “merited a spirited response.”
Barrett discussed the majority opinion she authored in a conversation with CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell, her first television interview since joining the Supreme Court in 2020. The justice has written a new book, called “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution,” that will hit shelves Sept. 9.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in June limited the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which are orders that block enforcement of a policy universally, not just against the plaintiffs in a case. The decision came in a trio of challenges to President Trump’s executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.
The constitutionality of Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship plan was not before the court, though the justices are likely to be confronted with that question soon.
The Supreme Court divided 6-3 in the case, with the three liberal justices in dissent. Jackson, the newest member of the court, joined the principle dissenting opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and wrote her own.
Writing for the majority, Barrett referenced Jackson several times by name. Barrett wrote that her colleague’s “position is difficult to pin down” and “goes far beyond the mainstream defense of universal injunctions.”
“We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself,” Barrett wrote. “We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.”
Asked about her response to Jackson, Barrett said she mentioned her fellow justice by name because she wrote a solo dissent that was not joined by either of the two liberal justices, Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan.
“I did draft the opinion and I think sometimes arguments that are, you know — you match the tone that’s appropriate for the moment,” Barrett said. “And Justice Jackson made a formal, a very — she made a spirited argument, and so I thought it merited a spirited response. But it is about the merits, it was about the case. I have great respect for Justice Jackson.”
Barrett quoted her former boss, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was known for his own sharp opinions and who would say “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people.”
“That is the spirit in which, you know, I write my opinions,” she said.
Asked if there was any “beef” with Jackson, Barrett replied, “Of course not. No.”
“One thing I want people to know about the court is that it’s a place where we can have disagreements, but still get along, because we can have disagreements that really are confined to the page, that are confined to cases,” she said. “And so we can debate ideas, sometimes vigorously, as you pointed out, but it doesn’t inhibit us in our ability to be colleagues and friends.”
