Alex Swoyer | April 11, 2025
(The Washington Times) — Two of the Supreme Court’s Republican appointees have become pivotal for President Trump’s agenda, which lower court judges have hamstrung by issuing nationwide injunctions against his policies.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett have shown a willingness to join the court’s liberal wing in recent weeks to block parts of the administration’s initiatives.
It usually requires both of them siding with the three Democratic appointees to impede Mr. Trump’s plans, which happened last month when they joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in ruling against the administration’s freeze on roughly $2 billion in foreign aid.
“Roberts and Barrett have been pivotal swing votes in a number of these cases,” said Elliot Mincberg, senior fellow at People For the American Way. “It is pretty clear that Thomas and Alito always vote Trump’s way. It is also true that the moderates generally vote the other way.”
“Roberts and Barrett tend to be the most swing-ish, one would say,” he said.
Both joined the three liberal justices in March to rule against the Trump administration in its efforts to withhold nearly $2 billion in foreign assistance. The high court’s 5-4 order required the feds to issue payments for work that had already been completed.
Most recently, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett individually sided with the liberal justices in cases that ultimately allowed Mr. Trump’s agenda to move forward while the litigation progresses in lower courts.
Last week, Chief Justice Roberts joined the three liberal justices in opposing the administration’s plans to cancel certain grants by the Department of Education. The 5-4 decision allowed the grants to be terminated as the lawsuit continues in lower courts.
The decision noted that the chief justice would have denied the administration’s request to lift a lower court injunction against canceling the grants, which the administration said were linked to diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
This week, Justice Barrett joined in part of a dissent from the court’s liberal wing over Mr. Trump’s use of the 1798 Aliens Enemies Act to deport illegal immigrants who are deemed to be members of violent street gangs.
The administration had appealed a U.S. district court judge’s order for it to turn planes around that had left the country carrying members of a Venezuelan gang heading to El Salvador.
The court’s majority ruled that the administration can use the wartime law to deport illegal immigrants, but it cautioned that the administration would have to give the immigrants enough notice before deportation to afford them a chance to challenge their removal.
“My sense is that Roberts and Barrett are the key justices right now,” said Adam Feldman, founder of the Empirical SCOTUS blog and a Supreme Court scholar. “The liberals seem generally opposed to Trump’s agenda. Barrett seems like she is conflicted, as was apparent in the recent deportation decision. Roberts appears like he’s with the conservative justices at least for now.”
Court watchers see Chief Justice Roberts as siding with the conservative wing for the most part due to his view of a strong executive and Article II, which vests certain authority in the president.
“If Barrett and Roberts slide towards liberals, though, this could put a real wrench in Trump’s attempts to get the Supreme Court to side with his policies,” Mr. Feldman said.
Josh Blackman, professor at South Texas College of Law, said he thinks Chief Justice Roberts also looks for compromises across the court, while “Barrett is still figuring herself out.”
Justice Barrett joined the court in 2020, while Chief Justice Roberts joined in 2005.
