Rachel Maddow called out for 'dangerous' rhetoric toward Supreme Court: 'Fueling the rage'

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow challenged the legitimacy of the Supreme Court Wednesday following its decision to take up former President Trump's immunity case. On "America's Newsroom" Thursday, Fox News contributor and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley hit back at Maddow and other liberal voices for "fueling the rage" toward the justices.

RACHEL MADDOW DEFENDS MSNBC'S REFUSAL TO AIR TRUMP'S IOWA VICTORY SPEECH: ‘NOT OUT OF SPITE’

JONATHAN TURLEY: This is why you have such anger. This is why people go to the homes of justices. This is what they hear in this echo chamber, that the court is a bunch of robotic, partisan hacks. You've had law school deans refer to them as hacks and what people hear about that, but they don't hear the truth that the Supreme Court has ruled against Donald Trump, against conservative causes regularly, including the conservatives on the court. You had one person yesterday say that, well, this just shows the court is part of the insurrection and the insurrection is ongoing. That type of rhetoric is what's fueling the rage in this country. The court accepted this for review. There are issues here. It's a long-standing debate. I think that Trump is at a disadvantage on the merits, but some of the justices may have serious questions of where to draw this line, that is to tell future presidents when they are not protected. So this rhetoric is dangerous and it's wrong.

Members of the Supreme Court (L-R) Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Associate Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Elena Kagan, and Brett M. Kavanaugh pose in the Justices Conference Room prior to the formal investiture ceremony of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson September 30, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to review whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution in the Special Counsel's federal election interference case, an election-year dispute that will have blockbuster legal and political implications for the nation.

The justices have fast-tracked the appeal, and will hear oral arguments in late April, with a ruling on the merits expected by late June. Trump's criminal trial has been put on hold pending resolution of the matter.

Arguments will begin the week of April 22. 

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow shared her strong feelings after learning about the news on "All in with Chris Hayes" Wednesday. 

"This is B.S. You are doing this as a dilatory tactic to help your political friend, your partisan patron. And for you to say that this is something that the court needs to decide because it's something that's unclear in the law is just flagrant, flagrant bullpucky. And they know it and they don't care that we know it. And that's disturbing about the future legitimacy of the court," Maddow said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Bradford Betz, Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

Video