President Donald Trump criticized the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday after the court overturned his landmark tariffs, specifically targeting Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s intellect in a post on Truth Social.
The president said the court’s liberal justices vote together as a single group. He said some conservative justices often rule against his interests, citing the recent decision to strike down his trade policies. The 79-year-old referred to Jackson as a “low-IQ person” who “somehow found her way to the bench.”
Jackson joined the court in 2022 after a nomination by President Joe Biden. She graduated with honors from Harvard University and Harvard Law School and served as a federal public defender and a district court judge.
Trump singles out Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as ‘low IQ’ in latest slur against prominent person of colorhttps://t.co/TXfqNz4xuu
— The Independent (@Independent) April 22, 2026
Critics of the president said his use of the phrase “low IQ” follows a pattern of targeting women and people of color. The U.S. president used the same term to describe House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY., on Tuesday. Records show Trump has used the insult against other officials, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, according to CBS 19. He has also used the phrase to describe white men, such as Robert De Niro and commentator Tucker Carlson.
According to the Washington Post, Bill Pruitt said in a 2024 article that Trump used racial slurs during the filming of The Apprentice in 2004. Former contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman also said in 2018 that recordings exist of Trump using such slurs, according to the New York Post. Trump said at the time of Newman’s claims that he did not use that word. “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary,” Trump said in a social media post, according to The Guardian.
Donald Trump hits back at Robert De Niro’s rant at him, says Raging Bull actor “has low IQ” https://t.co/yhGcBsik0p pic.twitter.com/ja3BV01n0j
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 13, 2018
Furthermore, the 47th president said the court was asking “nasty one-sided questions” regarding the legal status of birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to children born on United States soil. Social media users were quick to opine on the 79-year-old’s remarks.
One user wrote, “A “Low IQ” person is about to give him the lesson of his life, come August.” Another user commented, “Trump just called Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a “Low IQ person.” He has a long history of calling women of color dumb or ‘low IQ’.”
Lastly, one user noted, “I didn’t realize that “low IQ” had become a euphemism for the “N” word.”
Critics of the remarks said the language relies on racist and s*xist stereotypes. They said the attacks on a sitting Supreme Court justice undermine the respect for the nation’s highest legal institutions.
