U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump in March for urging the impeachment of a federal judge, laying bare tensions between the country's executive and the judiciary as Trump's sweeping assertions of power encounter judicial obstacles.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday strongly criticized President Donald Trump — without naming him — for his attacks on judges, arguing that the rhetoric of the president and his allies threatens democracy,

The Trump administration has also succeeded in some cases in beating back legal challenges, and some early defeats at the trial court level have been subsequently overturned by a federal appeals court, such as when a panel cleared the way for the administration to fire thousands of probationary workers in spite of a judge’s earlier opinion.