Brett Kavanaugh hit back at critics of the Supreme Court's handling of the Trump administration, which has won a series of victories on the so-called emergency docket.

Rulings on the emergency docket come without a full briefing, and the justices often provide little explanation for their decisions. The court has handed Trump big wins on the emergency docket, from immigration to laying off federal workers.

Kavanaugh hits back

The Supreme Court's own liberal justices have accused the conservative majority of being too quick to come to Trump's aid. Kavanaugh blamed the rise in emergency rulings on presidents in both parties testing legal boundaries.

“And I think presidents, whether it’s President Obama — I think the phrase was ‘pen and phone’ — or President Biden or President Trump, have really done more of that, and those get challenged pretty quickly in court,” Kavanaugh said, speaking at a conference hosted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

The Trump administration has filed 21 emergency appeals in response to an unprecedented blizzard of adverse rulings from lower courts, which the administration claims are engaged in partisan obstruction.

Kavanaugh noted that the Supreme Court is providing more detail in emergency rulings than it has in the past. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored a recent opinion addressing nationwide injunctions - in which she memorably chastised Ketanji Brown Jackson - that ran to 26 pages.

“We have written a lot more than we’ve written in the past on the interim orders docket,” Kavanaugh said.

"Snap judgment"

Last week, liberal justice Elena Kagan said the justices should provide more written explanation in emergency cases.

But Kavanaugh says there is a good reason for the justices to keep their commentary short in emergency cases.

“There can be a risk, in writing the opinion, of a lock-in effect, of making a snap judgment and putting it in writing, in a written opinion that’s not going to reflect the final view,” he said.

Despite their often-sharp disagreements, the justices often defend each other from outside criticism.

Kavanaugh said his liberal colleagues are "thoughtfully engaging in difficult issues," and he believed it was "a sign of strength when there are different views expressed."

"The collegiality of the Supreme Court is very strong, strong to this day," he said. "We all look out for each other. We think the other eight are patriots and are good people."