Usha Vance says Supreme Court, federal judges should be treated with 'respect'

The second lady said she has been surprised by Trump's sense of humor.

Second lady Usha Vance said the Supreme Court and federal judges should be treated with "respect" amid attacks and criticism they have endured from across the political spectrum.

The second lady also shared her thoughts about her husband Vice President JD Vance's political future and the biggest surprise she learned about President Donald Trump.

"We talked about some of the political violence and the rhetoric kind of reaching a fever pitch," Davis said. "Of course, the Supreme Court has also been attacked. You've clerked for two justices who are now both on the Supreme Court. One of your former bosses, Chief Justice John Roberts, called personal criticism of judges dangerous and said that some attacks have gone too far. Do you agree?"

"I have a lot of respect for the justices," Usha Vance said. "I think that they have a hard and challenging job being in the public eye, just like a lot of other people in Congress, in the media, in the executive branch. So, I do want people to treat them with respect, I think that there has been a lot of personalization of feelings towards judges and the courts across the country that probably didn't exist, you know, 150 years ago when they were less in the public eye."

"So, I'm hopeful that people will continue to treat them with the sense of humanity and you know, without the kind of anger that's led to some attacks on judges," she said.

The second lady did not mention the attacks launched by Trump against the Supreme Court and several federal judges who had ruled against him.

Just this past weekend, Trump blasted a judge's ruling that the president couldn't add his name to the Kennedy Center or shut it down for a lengthy renovation project without Congress' approval. Trump attacked the Obama-nominated judge who handed down the decision, suggesting that the ruling was politically motivated and claiming that millions of dollars have been wasted on scheduled repairs to the building.

At Rice University in March, Roberts said that the "personally directed hostility" towards the Supreme Court was dangerous and must stop. Roberts' remarks came on the heels of Trump accusing the chief justice and others on the court of being "disloyal" and "unpatriotic" following it striking down his authority to implement emergency tariffs.

The increase in attacks on the nation's highest court also coincides with the country seeing a growth in violent political rhetoric used by political figures.

In an October 2025 Gallup poll, larger shares of Americans than in y