Kagan Disputes Idea Supreme Court is Rubber-Stamping Trump’s Agenda

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration in many of the cases brought before the court during the president’s second term.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 14, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan said on July 23 that while the court is “very conservative,” it’s not a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump.

“Is this court very conservative? Does it do a bunch of things that are out of the playbook of the conservative legal movement that I think are deeply wrong? You know, yes,” Kagan told lawyers and judges during the Ninth Circuit Conference in Bellevue, Washington. “But is this court the kind of puppet for the current administration? I think definitely not.”

Her comments came weeks after the court issued a landmark decision allowing Trump to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission. The decision, which Trump described as one of the most important rulings “ever,” overruled a major precedent limiting executive power.

The court also lifted a block on Trump’s attempt to remove temporary protected status for migrants. However, Kagan said the court has “checked the executive branch” in key rulings during the second Trump administration. “I don’t see this as a court that is just like, you know, we’re just going to rubber-stamp what the current administration does,” she said.

In June, the court ruled against the president’s executive order that would have prevented children of illegal immigrants and legal temporary visitors from automatically obtaining birthright citizenship. The court also struck down many of Trump’s global tariffs in February, saying that they exceeded emergency powers granted by Congress.

“Tariffs is probably the key policy issue for this president—I mean something he campaigned on, he ran on, he cared an enormous amount about,” Kagan said. “I don’t think there are all that many decisions in recent times where a court strikes down such an important policy to a sitting president.”

Many of Trump’s wins at the Supreme Court have come from cases on the court’s emergency docket, which includes urgent appeals that are often decided without oral argument. However, Trump has seen varying results on the emergency docket. While the justices have blocked some of his actions, they’ve also used the emergency docket to lift many lower court blocks on his agenda.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson scrutinized those decisions in April.

“The administration is making new policy ... and then insisting the new policy take effect immediately, before the challenge is decided,” she said. “This uptick in the court’s willingness to get involved in cases on the emergency docket is a real unfortunate problem.”

However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the Supreme Court was only fulfilling its job by addressing emergency applications. The Justice Department’s rush to the Supreme Court is not unique to the Trump administration, Kavanaugh said.

During the conference on July 23, Kagan also provided an account of Trump’s appearance at the Supreme Court during oral arguments for the birthright citizenship case. The case marked the first time a sitting president attended oral arguments before the court.

Kagan described Trump’s appearance as a “non-event” for the justices, as Trump was seated to the side and the court did not announce his presence.

“I was sort of thinking, I worked for a president, and when a president walks into the room, you get the whole ‘Hail to the Chief’ stuff. And there was like, none of that,” Kagan said. “And so, I don’t know. I think he probably won’t come back.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.