Donald Trump is privately fuming at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett — the woman he handpicked in 2020 — for not backing him when it matters most, according to sources close to the former president.
“He’s been pissed about her for a while,” one senior official told CNN. “It’s not just one ruling. It’s been a few different events he’s complained about privately.”
Though Trump has grumbled about other justices he appointed — Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch — sources say his anger has been especially sharp toward Barrett. The frustration has been building for more than a year, fed by conservative allies who now say Barrett is “weak” and not the justice she appeared to be when he nominated her.
One particular case set off alarms in Trump’s circle: In March, Barrett voted against Trump’s push to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid. The backlash was immediate. A conservative legal commentator torched her on a podcast, calling her a “rattled law professor with her head up her a**.” Others went even further online, labeling her a “DEI hire” and “evil.”
Trump didn’t go public, but behind the scenes, he was livid.
Things got worse last month when Barrett recused herself from a major religious rights case involving a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. The court ended up tied 4-4, killing the case and letting a state court ruling stand. Her absence changed the outcome — and Trump noticed.
“It seems this goes beyond her duty to recuse,” said Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network. “Which could have pernicious long-term consequences if other justices were to do the same.”
Adding to the drama, Trump allies have whispered that Barrett’s rulings may be influenced by threats made against her family. In March, her sister received a bomb threat at her South Carolina home. According to sources, Trump has asked aides if she’s safe — and if more security would make her rule differently.
Publicly, Trump has kept quiet. In March, after the foreign aid vote, he told reporters: “She’s a very good woman. She’s very smart, and I don’t know about people attacking her, I really don’t know.” But inside his circle, he’s clearly frustrated.
“He does truly respect the Supreme Court, so he doesn’t want to torch any of his appointees,” one senior official said. “But he’s called on them as a group to rein in the lower courts and do the right thing.”
Still, Barrett isn’t exactly drifting left. She sides with the court’s two most conservative justices — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — more than 80% of the time. She’s also voted in favor of Trump on issues like transgender military bans, immigration rollbacks, and federal agency control.
But Trump doesn’t just want loyalty most of the time. He wants it when it counts.
And when it counted — like in the case that let New York prosecute him in the hush money scandal — Barrett joined with the liberals. Trump initially called it a “fair decision.” But inside Mar-a-Lago, it was a different story.
