It is extremely rare for a Supreme Court Chief Justice to criticize a sitting president. But John Roberts has just done it.

In a statement put out as a response to a query from the Associated Press, Roberts condemned the comments of President Donald Trump — who, yesterday, blasted a Ninth Circuit judge who ruled against his administration’s asylum policy.

“This was an Obama judge,” Trump said of Judge Jon Tigar — who ruled that a ban on asylum for those who cross the border illegally would be unlawful.

On Wednesday, Roberts said there is no such thing.

In his statement to the AP, Roberts said that the United States does not have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”

The Chief Justice added, an “independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

Supreme Court Justices have become more visible and vocal in recent years — bucking tradition slightly. But the Roberts statement is still an exceedingly rare public criticism of the president.

[featured photo via Getty Images]

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