The Supreme Court is usually one of the last places in Washington where tempers stay under control. The justices sit side by side, exchange what’s known as the “judicial handshake” before taking the bench, and generally keep political fireworks far away from public view. That’s why a recent exchange between Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised more than a few eyebrows.
The moment happened Monday during a public event in Washington where the two justices appeared together for a legal discussion. The occasion was the annual Thomas A. Flannery lecture, an event honoring the late federal judge and prosecutor. During the panel, a moderator posed questions to both justices about the Supreme Court’s recent docket, including criticism that the court has frequently sided with President Trump’s administration in emergency rulings.
That question opened the door for Jackson to air her concerns.
Jackson, who has become one of the court’s most frequent dissenters since joining the bench in 2022, argued that the administration’s legal strategy has forced the court into a growing number of emergency decisions. She suggested the practice of implementing policies immediately while legal challenges are still pending creates pressure on the justices to intervene.
“The administration is making new policy and then insisting the new policy take effect immediately before the challenge is decided,” Jackson said during the discussion.
She went on to criticize what she described as the court’s increasing willingness to step into those disputes.
“I just feel like this uptick in the court’s willingness to get involved is a real unfortunate problem,” she said, adding that the trend is “not serving the court or this country well.”
The remarks reportedly drew loud applause from some audience members, but they also prompted a rare response from another justice sitting on the panel.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not let the comments pass without pushing back. Speaking calmly but firmly, he responded that the justices are not eager to deal with the wave of emergency appeals that have reached the court.
“None of us enjoy this,” Kavanaugh said, referring to the growing number of urgent cases coming before the justices.
He added that the court’s responsibility is to apply the same standards regardless of which political party occupies the White House.
“We have to have the same position regardless of who is president,” Kavanaugh said.
Despite the disagreement over emergency rulings tied to President Trump’s policies, the two justices reportedly found common ground on other topics during the event. Both strongly condemned the recent rise in threats directed at members of the judiciary.
Kavanaugh, appointed to the court by President Trump in 2018, has become a reliable member of the court’s conservative majority. Jackson, appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, represents one of the court’s progressive voices and has frequently written dissents against the conservative bloc.
Public disagreements between sitting justices remain rare, especially in front of an audience. That’s part of what made the exchange so notable.
Even on the nation’s highest court, it turns out the political temperature in Washington can still creep into the room.
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