U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan told an audience of lawyers and judges in Bellevue on July 23 that the court's conservative majority is not a political tool of the Trump administration.

Kagan pointed to landmark rulings that struck down the president's tariffs, blocked his birthright citizenship order, and stopped his deployment of National Guard troops in American cities.

Kagan spoke at the annual 9th U.S. Circuit judicial conference, held in Bellevue this year. She oversees the 9th Circuit as its assigned Supreme Court justice and makes an annual appearance before the circuit's judges and attorneys.

"Is this court very conservative? Does it do a bunch of things that are out of the playbook of the conservative legal movement that I think are deeply wrong? You know, yes," Kagan said, according to the Associated Press. "But is this court the kind of puppet for the current administration? I think definitely not."

The rulings she cited

Kagan, one of the court's three liberal justices, named specific cases where the court blocked Trump's agenda. A 6-3 ruling struck down sweeping emergency tariffs the president imposed.

The administration subsequently replaced them with a temporary 10% global duty under a different legal authority, according to Politico. Kagan called tariffs "probably the key policy issue for this president."

The court also issued a 5-4 decision affirming birthright citizenship and rejecting Trump's executive order restricting it.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's liberal justices in that ruling, which Reuters reported could have affected as many as 250,000 births annually.

Additional rulings blocked Trump's attempt to fire a Federal Reserve Board member and stopped his deployment of National Guard troops to address what Politico described as immigration-related unrest in major cities.

Kagan acknowledged the court has sided with the Trump administration in the vast majority of cases during his second term, including largely upholding his immigration crackdown and expanding presidential authority over federal regulatory agencies.

But she drew a line between conservative ideology and political subservience.

She also addressed Trump's unprecedented visit to the Supreme Court in April 2026, when he attended oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case.

Trump sat in the first row of the public section, in an area typically reserved for members of Congress. He left about halfway through the two-hour session.

Kagan described the visit as a "non-event" for the justices. Chief Justice Roberts made no public announcement of Trump's presence.

Shadow docket and ethics

Kagan criticized the court's handling of emergency appeals, known as the "shadow docket," saying the court grants too many applications from the Trump administration, creating what she called a "vicious circle" of rushed decision-making.

She said the court has improved over the past year by more often providing written reasons for its emergency actions.

She also reiterated her support for appointing a committee of retired judges to enforce the Supreme Court's ethics code, adopted in 2023 after criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. Opinions differ on the court about enforcement, she said.

Why Bellevue

The 9th Circuit covers nine Western states including Washington. Its annual judicial conference rotates locations, and this year's gathering brought Kagan to Bellevue. The conference is not open to the public.

Kagan's remarks came after she and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett testified before Congress around July 14 on security threats and other issues facing the court.

The AP reported that public trust in the Supreme Court has been at historic lows in recent polling, and Trump has personally attacked justices who rule against him.