Yesterday marked a significant moment in the ongoing tension between US President Donald Trump and the judiciary, as Supreme Court Justice John Roberts publicly criticized the President for suggesting the impeachment of a federal judge. In a rare and pointed statement, Justice Roberts stated, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.” He further emphasized, “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
This rebuke from Justice Roberts comes in the wake of President Trump’s call for the impeachment of District Judge James Boasberg. Over the weekend, Judge Boasberg had ordered the suspension of deportation flights concerning alleged illegal migrants, prompting Trump’s outspoken criticism.
The President’s direct call for impeachment was unprecedented during his tenure, as he labeled Judge Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge,” accusing him of being a “troublemaker and agitator” who was “sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama.” Trump’s comments reflected a pattern of confrontational rhetoric aimed at the judiciary. In a post on Truth Social, he proclaimed, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!”
In quick succession, Republican politician Brandon Gill from Texas took to X, announcing that he had introduced articles of impeachment in the House against Judge Boasberg, referring to him as a “radical activist judge.”
‘Extremely rare’ intervention
Following Justice Roberts’s unusual intervention, Trump responded on Truth Social, stating, “If a President doesn’t have the right to throw murderers and other criminals out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!”
It’s important to note that federal judges are nominated by the President for life, and their removal is a complex process that involves impeachment by the House of Representatives for “high crimes or misdemeanors” and a subsequent conviction by the Senate. In fact, the impeachment of federal judges is extraordinarily rare, with the last instance occurring in 2010.
President Trump, who is notable as the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has a well-documented history of criticizing judges involved in his civil and criminal cases. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, described Justice Roberts’s intervention as “extremely rare,” recalling how the Chief Justice previously countered Trump’s critiques during his first term by affirming that the federal bench is nonpartisan: “The federal judiciary does not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges, or Clinton judges,” Tobias highlighted.
Court hearing
Judge Boasberg had ordered the suspension of deportation flights of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador, where they were to be incarcerated. The White House relied upon the seldom-used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify this action.
However, the lack of publicly available evidence confirming the deportees’ affiliations with criminal gangs or even their illegal status in the US raised questions. Judge Boasberg subsequently held a hearing regarding whether the White House had ignored his orders during these deportation flights.
During the proceedings, Justice Department attorneys argued that the more than 200 Venezuelan migrants had left the US prior to the issuance of the judge’s order preventing their flights, contending that Judge Boasberg lost jurisdiction as soon as the planes left US airspace.
Additionally, the Justice Department had earlier sought to have Judge Boasberg removed from the case, claiming he was interfering with the President’s lawful “conduct of foreign policy.” In his social media remarks, Trump asserted that Judge Boasberg “was not elected President,” reiterating his own claim of victory in the 2016 election. “I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” he declared.
Judge Boasberg, a Yale alumnus, was first appointed to the DC Superior Court by Republican President George W. Bush and later elevated to the district court bench by Democrat Barack Obama. The White House has consistently pushed back against court rulings unfavorable to its agenda, demonstrating the ongoing friction between the executive branch and the judiciary.
As President Trump’s efforts to maintain and expand executive power continue to raise concerns, there are increasing fears that he may challenge the authority of the judiciary, potentially paving the way for a constitutional crisis.
Edited By Ali Musa
Axadle Times International – Monitoring.
