President Donald Trump is facing sharp criticism over his sweeping, multi-front attack on the U.S. Court of International Trade, an influential conservative legal activist who shaped his first-term judicial picks, and the Federalist Society — with one prominent law professor calling it a clash between “MAGA men” and conservatives.

"MAGA men and conservatives aren't the same. The food fight on the right is now in the open," wrote Professor Richard Painter, the former Bush 43 chief White House ethics lawyer who is now a political independent.

President Trump had attacked the three-judge panel on the International Trade Court, which blocked almost all of his "Liberation Day" tariffs, declaring that presidents cannot arbitrarily declare emergencies. That ruling, currently on hold, was decided by judges appointed by Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Trump himself.

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"Where do these initial three Judges come from?" Trump asked. "How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of 'TRUMP?' What other reason could it be?"

"I was new to Washington," he continued in his rant, posted Thursday evening, "and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions."

Professor Painter observed that if President Trump "is angry that he can't impose tariffs (i.e. taxes) without consent of the legislature, instead of blaming Leonard Leo, he should blame the drafters of the Constitution (1789), or for that matter the drafters of Magna Carta (1215), which says essentially the same thing."

Painter also explained that this "dispute is over whether a 'conservative' judge should allow the President to impose tariffs, a form of taxation, without consent from Congress. Conservatives, and others who understand the Constitution, know that to impose taxes the President needs consent from Congress."

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