DOJ Installs Presidential Hotline to Supreme Court, Attorney General Now Full-Time Complaint Liaison
Officials say the new line lets the president share his concerns before a ruling is finished, which is different from a veto in ways still being explained.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has installed a dedicated phone line connecting the Oval Office directly to the chambers of the Supreme Court, allowing the president to voice objections to pending rulings before the justices finish writing them.
The attorney general, who will staff the line personally, described the arrangement as a natural extension of his earlier comments that the president should communicate his concerns with the court rather than simply criticizing it afterward. "This isn't pressure, it's dialogue," he said. "The dialogue just happens to occur while the opinion is still in the printer."
Court staff have reportedly been given a laminated card of approved responses to use when the line rings mid-deliberation, including "we hear you" and "let us get back to you on that." A spokesperson for the new liaison office, who declined to give a name, said the goal was simply to keep communication open. "We came together as one branch, divided," the spokesperson said, before stepping out to take another call.
Aides say the hotline will remain unstaffed on weekends, so any rulings the president disagrees with on a Saturday will simply have to wait until Monday to be reconsidered.