{"id":2634745,"date":"2026-07-24T12:58:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elena-kagan-reiterates-supreme-court-is-not-a-puppet-for-trump-administration\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T12:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:58:59","slug":"elena-kagan-reiterates-supreme-court-is-not-a-puppet-for-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elena-kagan-reiterates-supreme-court-is-not-a-puppet-for-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Elena Kagan reiterates Supreme Court is not a &#8216;puppet&#8217; for Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Felena-kagan-reiterates-supreme-court-is-not-a-puppet-for-trump-administration%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2634745&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Justice Elena Kagan defended the Supreme Court against criticism regarding its rulings related to the Trump administration. Speaking at the Ninth Circuit judicial conference, she emphasized that the Court is not influenced by Trump\u2019s agenda, despite a conservative majority of 6-3. She acknowledged the CourtS conservative leaning but countered claims that it acts as a \u201cpuppet\u201d for the current administration. The Court recently handed Trump several losses on major cases but also issued rulings favorable to him,such as allowing him to end certain protected statuses and fire federal officials.Trump attended oral arguments for the first time as sitting president, but Kagan viewed his presence as unremarkable. Public opinion polls suggest many believe the Court&#8217;s decisions, especially in Trump-related cases, are politically driven. Justices like Chief Justice Roberts have denied that their rulings follow presidential agendas, emphasizing their independence. Trump has criticized the Court for rulings against him and expects a busy term ahead, with notable cases on issues like assault weapons bans and Colorado&#8217;s preschool policies scheduled for upcoming arguments.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Justice <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elena-kagan\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4303\">Elena Kagan<\/a> pushed back this week on criticism of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"203\">Supreme Court<\/a> for ruling in favor of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"339\">Trump administration<\/a>, citing the multiple instances in which the majority on the high court pushed back on President Donald Trump in several high-profile cases last term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kagan, who was appointed to the high court in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama, spoke to the judicial conference for the Ninth Circuit, the judicial circuit she is assigned to oversee, on Thursday evening, roughly a month after concluding a Supreme Court term dominated by several Trump cases. The high court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority, and Kagan is a part of the liberal minority, something she acknowledged in her remarks while also pushing back on accusations that the Supreme Court carries out Trump\u2019s will.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4662086\/justice-kagan-says-supreme-court-not-puppet-for-trump-administration\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Justice Kagan says Supreme Court is not a \u2018puppet\u2019 for Trump administration<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4657804\/supreme-court-urged-strike-down-federal-distilling-prohibition-federal-overreach-argument\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court urged to strike down federal distilling prohibition<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4657727\/supreme-court-bias-political-agenda-poll\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Almost half the country says Supreme Court obeys political agendas: Poll<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIs 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,\u201d Kagan said, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-scotus-kagan-roberts-tariffs-trump-52ed3c9cd7a5b999653b78b6859fe00e\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-scotus-kagan-roberts-tariffs-trump-52ed3c9cd7a5b999653b78b6859fe00e\">according to<\/a> the <em>Associated Press<\/em>. \u201cBut is this court the kind of puppet for the current administration? I think definitely not.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court handed Trump major losses in cases over his sweeping \u201cLiberation Day\u201d tariffs in February, his birthright citizenship executive order in June, and his bid to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The high court handed the president wins in cases involving his bid to end temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria and his ability to fire within the executive branch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump became the first sitting president to attend Supreme Court oral arguments in April, when he sat in on arguments for the birthright citizenship case. Despite the historic attendance of the president, the Supreme Court session on April 1 went on as normal without any acknowledgment of Trump\u2019s attendance or any apparent change in how the justices handled the case. Kagan told the Ninth Circuit judicial conference that the president\u2019s attendance was a \u201cnon-event\u201d for her and the other justices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe was just like a person who came in and sat down and then had to listen to an argument,\u201d Kagan said, predicting the president would likely not return for another oral argument session in the coming terms.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the high court has ruled against Trump several times in high-profile cases, with members of both the liberal and conservative sides of the bench handing him losses, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4657727\/supreme-court-bias-political-agenda-poll\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4657727\/supreme-court-bias-political-agenda-poll\/\">a recent poll found<\/a> that a plurality of people believe the Supreme Court based its rulings in Trump cases on politics. A <em>Washington Post <\/em>and Ipsos poll found that 46% of people say the Trump cases were decided by political agenda, while only 25%\u00a0answering the cases were determined by the law itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other justices have attempted to distance themselves from partisan accusations, especially in regard to cases involving the Trump administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by then-President George W. Bush in 2005, earlier this year <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4494513\/justice-roberts-slams-notion-justices-follow-presidents-appointed\/\">said that it is \u201cabsurd\u201d<\/a> to believe that the justices carry out the agendas of the presidents who appoint them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCertainly, I\u2019ll always be grateful for President Bush for appointing me, and I\u2019m sure all my colleagues are grateful there,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut the idea that I\u2019m carrying out \u2014 or they\u2019re carrying out some different agendas. Really fallacious.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4647851\/five-takeaways-kagan-barrett-capitol-hill\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4647851\/five-takeaways-kagan-barrett-capitol-hill\/\">FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE SUPREME COURT\u2019S BIG DAY ON CAPITOL HILL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has also pushed back on the idea the Supreme Court only hands him victories, taking aim at the justices for ruling against him in key cases several times this year. After the high court struck down his sweeping tariffs, he held a lengthy press conference at the White House, during which he criticized the six justices in the majority for the adverse decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court concluded its term at the end of last month and will begin its next term with oral arguments on Oct. 5. The upcoming Supreme Court term already has several notable cases set for argument, including cases about <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4655258\/assault-weapons-bans-on-their-way-to-supreme-court\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4655258\/assault-weapons-bans-on-their-way-to-supreme-court\/\">\u201cassault weapons\u201d bans<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4649867\/supreme-court-colorado-catholic-preschool-case-implications\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4649867\/supreme-court-colorado-catholic-preschool-case-implications\/\">Colorado barring Catholic preschools<\/a> from its universal preschool program.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice Kagan defends Court\u2019s independence amid Trump rulings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2634746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26195609659220.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[82701,4151,32275,32640],"class_list":["post-2634745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-elena-kagan","tag-judiciary","tag-supreme-court","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26195609659220.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2634745"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2634749,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634745\/revisions\/2634749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2634746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2634745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2634745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2634745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}