Arizona’s MAGA Justice Clint Bolick Condemns Trump’s Attacks on American Legal Rights

In an astonishing speech, MAGA celebrity Justice Clint Bolick of the Arizona Supreme Court disparaged Trump and his stooges for the January 6 insurrection, attempting to suspend habeas corpus (taking away a person’s right to challenge their detention in court), and seeking to destroy the due process of law.

“It is really scary stuff,” Bolick said at a speech to the conservative Society for the Rule of Law in Phoenix on May 13, 2025. “The idea that right-of-center lawyers would have to join together to defend the rule of law against people who describe themselves as constitutional conservatives is just really head-spinning to me.”

He added, “It’s almost dystopian when I think of people wrapping themselves in the Constitution while they are simultaneously doing violence to it.”

In a call to action to conservatives, Bolick said, “If you believe in individual liberty, standing up for the rule of law and the independent judiciary, no matter who is attacking it, is an absolute priority. And I would just close with the words, count me in.”

Bolick’s condemnation did not specifically name Trump. But he recounted actions taken by Trump on January 6, the questioning by Vice President JD Vance of “due process,” and threats by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to suspend habeas corpus.

Astounding rebuke

The scathing rebuke was astounding coming from Bolick, an extreme right-wing partisan. Bolick has spent his sordid MAGA legal career fighting against citizen initiatives, public schools, voter rights, unions, renewable energy, Obamacare and abortion rights.

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For a review of Bolick’s right-wing career, see my article MAGA Justice Clint Bolick Must Be Voted Off the Arizona Supreme Court, which I wrote on August 12, 2024.

Also, see Vote NO on AZ Supreme Court Justices Bolick and King, which I wrote on October 18, 2024.

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“Bolick’s comments represent his most piercing and direct condemnation of actions taken by the country’s highest political leaders,” wrote Taylor Seely of the Arizona Republic.

Bolick told the Arizona Republic that “the United States was in the middle’ alarm stage.’ He defined the final stage as the president ignoring judicial orders enforcing constitutional boundaries.”

Trump has repeatedly flouted court rulings against him.

“That’s where we would have, in my opinion, authoritarianism. Because if the president were allowed to operate unchecked, we would have what was a system of unbound executive power,” Bolick told reporter Taylor Seely.

Bashing Trump in his speech

In his speech, Bolick said, “Due process is the most foundational legal principle protecting individual liberty in Western civilization. It dates back to the Magna Carta. It does not deserve to be in air quotes or quotes in op-ed pieces.”

Bolick blatantly bashed Trump for causing the January 6, 2021, riot. “I have to say that as an American, I am so deeply embarrassed at what happened that day, not just the storming of the American Capitol, not just bringing a Confederate flag into our nation’s capital, which didn’t even happen during the Civil War.”

“And seeing people who professed to be conservatives assaulting police officers. But not only that, the incredible pressure being put on the Vice President of the United States (Mike Pence) to be the first person to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the other,” Bolick said.

Rulings against American Legal Rights

Bolick disparaged the US Supreme Court for its 1944 decision upholding the internment of Japanese Americans as a military necessity justified by the need to protect national security. This decision has since been widely criticized and ultimately repudiated.

“The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need. Sound familiar?” Bolick said, referring to Trump.

But he praised the landmark 1952 Supreme Court decision that limited presidential power during a national emergency. The case arose when President Harry Truman, amidst a labor strike during the Korean War, issued an executive order to seize and operate the nation’s steel mills. The Supreme Court ruled against Truman, stating that he lacked the authority to seize private property, even during wartime.

Referring to Trump, Bolick said, “These decisions really exemplify why it is that we need courageous courts that will hold the other branches to the boundaries of their constitutional. The idea that the courts cannot arrest the constitutional excesses of the other branches of government should not be up for debate.“