United States President Donald Trump strongly criticised the nation's Supreme Court on Tuesday after it blocked his plan to restrict mail-in ballots, launching an attack on the justices he hand-picked in his first term.
Trump accused the court of allowing itself to be cowed by Democrats following the ruling, which comes as a blow to Republican hopes of keeping control of Congress in November's midterm elections.
"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 said on his Truth Social network.
Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices in his first term — Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch — giving the court a conservative supermajority.
But in his lengthy social media diatribe, the 80-year-old Republican now blamed them for some of the most "destructive, hurtful, and damaging decisions in our Country's history".
"The Supreme Court has really let our Country down! Certain Justices are petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats, and are totally unable to show the courage necessary to save our America," he said.
US attorney-general Todd Blanche — who was formerly Trump's personal lawyer during a string of civil and criminal cases — defended the president's attack on the judiciary.
"He is very frustrated," Blanche told reporters at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden. "He has every right, and indeed he should communicate his concerns with the Supreme Court whenever he has them."
Blanche added that the Trump administration could continue to pursue mail-in voting changes despite the court ruling.
Trump signed an executive order in March requiring the compilation of lists of eligible voters and requiring the US Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters who are on the lists.
He says without evidence that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud, falsely blaming them for his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
But his plan faced multiple challenges and the Supreme Court on Monday denied Trump's request to lift an order halting it.
Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion with the majority, said Trump's plan may be legal in the long run, but "state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections".
Only two of the six conservative justices on the nine-member panel offered a dissent.
Trump called the decision itself "horrible" and "highly political".
"It is not easy for me to write this criticism of the United States Supreme Court — it will likely cost me dearly for years to come — but I feel it my obligation and duty, as President, to do so for the America we love!" he added.
"Trump's scheme was so on-the-nose, so un-American, so flagrantly unconstitutional that the MAGA Court had no choice but to make the right call," Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
Despite denouncing mail-in voting as corrupt, Trump has previously used it himself, including to vote in Florida's Republican primary last month.
The mail-in fight comes with high political stakes ahead of the 3 November elections.
Republicans hold narrow congressional majorities, but Democrats are favoured to capture the House and possibly the Senate as Trump's approval ratings remain weak and voters voice frustration over living costs and the war with Iran.
Losing control of Congress could not only stymie the last two years of Trump's legislative agenda but also expose the president to a third impeachment by Democrats.