# What if Trump says he has fired SCOTUS Justices who voted against him? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 20, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855 "2026-02-20T17:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/61 "2026-02-20T21:22:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When the car is speeding towards the cliff with busted brakes, sometimes the only thing you can do is try to jump out of the car To continue your metaphor. That’s probably not the time to consider whether the same person who cut the brakes also would get away with putting a man eating tiger in the trunk. Yeah he totally would do something like that and might get away with it if he did. But at this exact moment he didn’t, and there are more pressing concerns ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/62 "2026-02-20T21:33:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s a Dunkin’ around the corner. There’s a Dunkin’ around EVERY corner. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/63 "2026-02-20T23:23:21Z")
Nearly half the members of Congress would (rightly) renounce the other half for abetting a dictatorship by not impeaching and removing the president for an indisputably unconstitutional act. We would effectively be a dictatorship with no further use for a Supreme Court or a legislature. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/64 "2026-02-21T00:49:33Z")
I assume the same thing would happen as when Trump said he fired Lisa Cook - they’ll say “No you didn’t” and continue doing their job. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/65 "2026-02-21T02:06:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Said by far too many when the “merely” hypothetical became the unwelcome reality in the past. Does prevention not mean anything any more? Again what different actions should we be taking now that will somehow magically prevent Trump from deciding at some point in the future he’s going to fire a SCOTUS. What other steps, that we aren’t already doing right now to desperately try and impede all the fascist stuff he’s doing, are we missing? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/66 "2026-02-21T02:16:43Z")
If Trump “fires” a Supreme Court justice and gets away with it, then he’s not the president of the United States of America, he’s just a petty warlord. The Union has been dissolved and none of us are under any obligation to accept the sovereignty of an illegitimate government. The proper recourse in such a situation is spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/67 "2026-02-21T04:22:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > …even Alito and Thomas aren’t as fully rubber-stamp as could be, they can’t be 100% guaranteed to do his bidding… I’m not convinced they won’t do whatever Trump wants but based on his press conference today HE certainly thinks they will. Same for Kavanaugh. That is why he was so angry. DJT has no understanding of or respect for the rule of law. He made it clear today he expects their support on everything out of loyalty to him as President. Any one not doing that is a traitor to the Constitution and to him. Period. If the birth right citizenship case doesn’t go his way I think his fury will be even greater. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/68 "2026-02-21T05:05:22Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Not to derail the OP, but if Trump can fire 5 Supreme Court justices, why not just fire them all? After all, even Alito and Thomas aren’t as fully rubber-stamp as could be, they can’t be 100% guaranteed to do his bidding, and they still retain a shred of independence. Kavanaugh, too, has been known to defy Trump occasionally. If we are doing this thought experiment, then Trump might as well get rid of all 9, and appoint 9 truly diehard-fanatical MAGA as his justices. If we’re going to go down that road, is there anything that says a minimum number of justices? Let’s have him appoint Aileen Cannon as the only SC justice. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/69 "2026-02-21T05:52:02Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > If we’re going to go down that road, is there anything that says a minimum number of justices? > **[28 USC 1: Number of justices; quorum](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title28-section1&num=0&edition=prelim)** ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/70 "2026-02-21T08:02:10Z")
Ignorance (and laziness) fought. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/71 "2026-02-21T08:11:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If we are doing this thought experiment, then Trump might as well get rid of all 9, and appoint 9 truly diehard-fanatical MAGA as his justices. I could certainly see him doing that, including not bothering picking anyone who knows anything about the law as his replacement “judges”. Which would ironically force the lower courts to start outright ignoring the Supreme Court when they began issuing legally incomprehensible nonsense as “rulings”. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/72 "2026-02-21T15:47:17Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [28 USC 1: Number of justices; quorum](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title28-section1&num=0&edition=prelim) So he would only actually have to fire two of them (Sotomajor and Jackson) to achieve his aims. That would leave a quorum with a majority in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/73 "2026-02-21T15:57:27Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Your faith in the more conservative Justices, especially Alito and Thomas in particular, is misplaced I feel. They are in favor of the all powerful unitary Executive That’s true but I think they would speak up when Trump sends his jackbooted thugs to physically prevent SCOTUSes from taking the bench (which is absolutely what this would take). Not out of any sense of duty but self preservation. They may not care about Trump oppressing and brutalizing Americans generally but they would care about brutalization of SCOTUSes specifically, as they are one of those. Of course at that point they may have reached the “there was no one left to speak out for me” stage ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/74 "2026-02-21T18:41:05Z")
I feel really guilty for thinking that there is funny shit. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/75 "2026-02-21T18:49:59Z")
Alito, Thomas and their spouses have previously indicated their support for MAGA actions on 1/6. Jenny Thomas was actively working with the election deniers. And I am certain Alito would do anything if Trump made him Chief Justice. Anything. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/76 "2026-02-21T19:58:39Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > So he would only actually have to fire two of them (Sotomajor and Jackson) to achieve his aims. He can’t fire ANY of them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/77 "2026-02-21T20:04:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He can’t fire ANY of them. He can have them grabbed and deported, imprisoned or killed if he wants. They are protected by the law, but their own actions have neutered the law and thus destroyed their only source of power. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/78 "2026-02-21T20:05:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > He can have them grabbed and deported, imprisoned or killed if he wants. He hasn’t even been able to deport Kilmar Abrego. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/79 "2026-02-21T20:10:27Z")
He can do any damn thing he is not stopped from doing. For the last time, “He is not supposed to that” and “He can’t do that” are _not_ synonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855/80 "2026-02-21T20:11:40Z")
How many times has he been told that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-trump-says-he-has-fired-scotus-justices-who-voted-against-him/1027855.md?page=5)