WMU-Cooley associate dean says Trump's attack on U.S. Supreme Court justices an effort to politicize SCOTUS

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Associate Dean and Constitutional Law Professor Ret. Brigadier Gen. Michael McDaniel weighed in on President Donald Trump’s recent comments on U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, stating it is the President’s effort to politicize SCOTUS.

President Donald Trump slammed U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Twitter, saying “they should recuse themselves from ‘Trump-related’ cases,” as reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

“The President's recent comments on Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg are extremely ill-advised as they wrongly portray Justice Sotomayor as acting from a political viewpoint and ignore Justice Ginsburg's 2016 apologies for her comments of then-presidential candidate Trump,” McDaniel said. “The question of when SCOTUS justices should recuse themselves based on past political statements or positions must always be approached carefully and sensitively – lest the independence of the court be forever tarnished."

McDaniel, a national security expert who developed WMU-Cooley’s LL.M. Homeland and National Security Law program, most recently served as the deputy assistant secretary for Homeland Defense Strategy, Prevention and Mission Assurance, where he supervised the Department of Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection Program and Global Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Policy. Previously, McDaniel served as former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s homeland security adviser for six years, while also serving as the assistant adjutant general for Homeland Security, Michigan National Guard. A member of the Michigan National Guard for over 26 years, McDaniel was also a military judge and assistant attorney general for litigation in the executive division of the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

WMU-Cooley Constitutional Law Professor Devin Schindler shared a similar viewpoint regarding the President’s recent remarks about Sotomayor and Ginsburg.

“President Trump's continued impertinent attacks on federal Judges again highlights the importance of judicial independence,” Schindler said. “The founders created an independent judiciary as a check on the potential despotism of the political branches.  These continued attacks undermine the very foundation of our polity.”