President Donald Trump says he regrets nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, delivering a blunt assessment of all three justices he selected during his first term.

Trump made the admission during a wide-ranging TIME interview at the White House on September 28, published Thursday, October 1. The exchange followed his recent criticism of the justices on Truth Social.

The president had called the trio “a shell of their original selves” before the interview. When asked directly whether he regretted their nominations, Trump answered, “Yeah.”

“What can I do? I put them in,” Trump said. He then complained that the three justices had ruled against him too frequently despite also voting in his favor at times.

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“They voted against me too often,” Trump said. He described their Supreme Court appointments as the opportunity of a lifetime and expressed frustration with their records.

Trump focused much of his criticism on Supreme Court rulings concerning birthright citizenship and emergency tariffs. He characterized the birthright citizenship decision as a disaster that transformed citizenship into “a corrupt business.”

“It’s unfortunate what they did—not to me, to our country,” Trump said about the citizenship case. His complaint centered on both the ruling and its consequences.

The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order in June through a 5 to 4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion.

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Barrett joined Roberts, and the court’s three Democrat appointed justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito issued dissents.

Trump also hammered the court’s February tariff decision, which he said would cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars. The president argued that a limited clause concerning money already paid could have prevented that result.

“All they had to do was a little clause saying any money paid does not have to be paid back… would have saved $400 billion,” Trump said.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs. Gorsuch and Barrett joined the majority, while Kavanaugh dissented.

The president’s frustration was not confined to those two cases. Last month, Trump again unloaded after the Supreme Court blocked a Postal Service rule aimed at preventing ballots from going to ineligible voters.

Only Alito and Thomas dissented from that decision. Trump responded that “these are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court; they are merely a shell of their original selves.”

Trump also accused certain justices of being “petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats.” His criticism sharpened the divide he sees between his own selections and the three justices appointed by Democrats.

“The Democrats stick like glue — those three, they virtually never vary,” Trump said of Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. He argued that the three regularly vote together, regardless of the issue before them.

President Trump slammed his three Supreme Court nominees in a new TIME interview, saying he regrets nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett after they ruled against him on tariffs, mail ballots, and birthright citizenship. “I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they voted against me often.”

“I don't want loyalty. I want good decisions. The tariff decision was disastrous for the country. I want good decisions for the country.” Time: “Do you regret nominating them?” POTUS: “Yeah. What can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often. I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often. They vote for me too. The Democrats stick like glue—those three, they virtually never vary. You can come up with the worst thing in the world and they’ll vote as a group. And while I don't like it, there's something I admire about it: there's loyalty.” “So they have loyalty to Barack Hussein Obama. They have loyalty to Biden, even though Biden doesn't even know who the hell they are. He wouldn't know. He doesn't even know what the Supreme Court is. And me, I gave them the chance of a lifetime, and it's unfortunate what they did.” “It’s unfortunate what they did—not to me, to our country. Birthright citizenship. It's becoming a major industry now. People are making millions and millions of dollars, and we're losing trillions of dollars. And it's become a corrupt business, all because of the Supreme Court decision." "That decision was for the babies of slaves…It wasn't for Chinese people, wealthy or unwealthy, coming, you know, pouring into our country. And this tariff decision again, all they had to do was a little clause saying any money paid does not have to be paid back…would have saved $400 billion. They chose not to save that.” — RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) October 2, 2026

Trump said he does not approve of their decisions but acknowledged that he admired what he described as their loyalty. He attributed that loyalty to Barack Hussein Obama and Biden while contrasting it with the records of his own nominees.

The president initially responded affirmatively when asked if he wanted loyalty from the justices he appointed. “I do like loyalty, yeah,” Trump said.

When pressed, however, Trump clarified his position. “No, I don’t want loyalty. I want good decisions.”

“The tariff decision was disastrous for the country. I want good decisions for the country,” Trump added.

Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett were presented to conservatives as the backbone of a 6 to 3 Supreme Court majority. Yet the three supplied crucial votes in decisions involving birthright citizenship, tariffs, and the Postal Service ballot rule.

Meanwhile, Alito and Thomas, whom Trump still calls legends, were repeatedly left in dissent in the cases drawing his ire. The president’s verdict on his three nominees was unmistakable: the appointments of a lifetime did not produce the judicial record he expected.

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