Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett deflected questions about President Donald Trump's attacks on her and her colleagues, even after publicly decrying the rising threats.
According to reporting by Bloomberg Law, the Trump-appointed Barrett was pressed on Thursday about the topic during a question-and-answer session at the University of Virginia. She was there to promote her book, "Listening to the Law."
She was asked whether disparaging comments made over the past year by Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller had increased threats to the judiciary, Bloomberg Law reported. Barrett reportedly declined to single out the president.
"I don't want to talk about anything that the president has said in particular," Barrett said.
Instead, Barrett framed the danger as a condition shared across political life in Washington rather than the product of any one figure.
"We certainly live in a time and in a climate where people are quick to say things that I certainly wish, you know, that they wouldn't," Barrett said, per Bloomberg Law. "I think it's not just the judges. I think that many members of the House and Senate talk about the threats they get."
Her reluctance to name Trump stands in contrast with how directly she has spoken about the threats justices face. Barrett told Congress in July testimony about Supreme Court security funding that the justices expect a 38 percent increase in threats this year compared to last, Bloomberg Law reported. Her own home was the target of an attempted swatting call this spring, she said during that July testimony.
The deflection came the same week Trump revived his criticism of the conservative justices he appointed. After the court declined to let his administration impose new mail-in ballot restrictions through the U.S. Postal Service, Trump went after the justices who ruled against him.
"These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. He added that the court was "bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left."
Barrett, a former Antonin Scalia clerk, drew similar anger from the right last term for joining majorities that struck down Trump's global tariff regime and upheld birthright citizenship. She said on Thursday that she has a "lonely job" in many ways and that she has grown more "guarded" by leaning on old friends she trusts.
"I think that part has been a challenge, just in ways that I didn't quite expect, just because what I had seen of the job was watching Scalia do it," Barrett said. "I think that was a different time."