Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett refused to say if President Donald Trump has “the right to do anything” as president of the United States.
During an interview on Sunday, CBS host Norah O’Donnell told Barrett that the president had recently made the claim to reporters in the Oval Office.
“I have the right to do anything I want to do,” Trump said at the time.
“Is President Trump right when he says he has unlimited power to deploy the National Guard in any state?” Brennan asked Barrett.
“So we don’t have any cases pending before us that I’m aware of,” the justice remarked. “I would not be surprised if there are some cases pending below. And so I can’t answer that question, but actually this is a good opportunity for me to say why I can’t answer that question because it’s something I cover in the book.”
“I’m going to decide something as a judge, it really has to happen in the context of a particular case,” she continued. “Because judges have to approach things with an open mind on a specific set of facts. We read briefs. I listen to oral argument.”
“And so not only should I not, but I don’t think you would want me to be in a position where I would just shoot from the hip and say, oh, yeah, I think that’s constitutional. Or, oh, no, I think that’s not.”
