Trump was asked if he regrets putting Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett on the Supreme Court, and he answered ‘Yeah. Yeah. What can I do?’

President Donald Trump says he regrets nominating Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, according to Reuters. “I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often,” Trump told Time magazine. The interview was published Thursday. The remarks stand out as Trump appointed all three justices to the Supreme Court during his first term.

Asked whether he regretted the nominations, Trump said, “What can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often.” The question referred to a recent Truth Social post in which Trump criticized the three justices. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment on the remarks, according to NTD, which reported on the interview.

In February, the Supreme Court held 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, with Gorsuch and Barrett in the majority and Kavanaugh dissenting. Trump had imposed those tariffs on nearly every country. Trump reserved special criticism for Gorsuch and Barrett afterward, as both joined the majority. He called the tariff decision “disastrous for the country” in the interview.

Trump says he wants good decisions but also likes loyalty

Asked whether he wants loyalty from his nominees, Trump first said, “I do like loyalty, yeah.” However, he then said he wants “good decisions.” “The tariff decision was disastrous for the country. I want good decisions for the country,” he said. Trump also claimed the justices showed loyalty to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. “I gave them the chance of a lifetime, and it’s unfortunate what they did,” he said.

The Supreme Court dealt Trump another setback in June when it rejected his attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the liberal justices in finding the order unconstitutional. Kavanaugh joined a separate majority concluding that it violated federal law, while Gorsuch dissented. The order sought to exclude children of people in the country illegally and temporary visitors.

Trump has criticized the justices before. In April, he wrote on social media that “certain” conservative justices had “gone weak, stupid, and bad.” On Mother’s Day, he published a 544-word post saying Gorsuch and Barrett “have hurt our Country so badly.” In the same post, Trump wrote that “it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them.”

In another Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves.” However, in the Time interview he acknowledged that the justices sometimes side with him, saying, “They vote for me too.” The interviewer put the shell comment to him directly before asking whether he regretted the picks.

Trump appointed Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett during his first term, building a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Justices serve for life unless they step down, and no Supreme Court vacancies have occurred in his second term. Trump’s legal fights have also reached the courts in other ways, including a case in which he sued his own administration for $10 billion.

The Hill reported that the comments came after Trump criticized the three justices for voting with the majority to block his mail-in voting plan last month. Time reported that the rulings Trump cited involved tariffs, mail ballots and birthright citizenship. The interview took place in the Oval Office earlier in the week, according to reports on the session.

As no justice has left the Supreme Court during his second term, further reaction from Trump is likely to follow new rulings on his policies rather than any change to the court’s membership.