As recently as Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the many prominent Republicans, including Elon Musk, who’ve repeatedly talked about impeaching federal judges who’ve dared to issue rulings the party doesn’t like. Donald Trump’s chief spokesperson didn’t question the premise, but she did emphasize that the president had not made any such declarations.
“I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges,” Leavitt replied. “I know you mentioned Mr. Musk’s tweet, but I have not heard the President of the United States ask that [judges be impeached].”
Less than one day later, Trump crossed a line he’d never crossed before: On heels of a Justice Department speech in which he suggested criticizing judges should be seen as “totally illegal,” the president called U.S. District Judge James Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic,” a “troublemaker” and an “agitator.” Trump concluded, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
The Republican didn’t offer any evidence against the jurist. Rather, he seemed to suggest that a judge ruling in a way the White House doesn’t like constitutes a high crime.
As the day progressed, Trump sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and kept the offensive going. “[W]e have bad judges. We have very bad judges,” the president said. “These are judges that shouldn’t be allowed. I think at a certain point you have to start looking at — what do you do when you have a rogue judge?”
To the extent that reality still has meaning, none of the targeted judges have done anything to suggest they’ve gone “rogue.” But even if Trump has come to the opposite conclusion, the answer to his question is simple: As Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reminded Trump, he can simply appeal rulings he believes were wrong.
But no matter how serious the White House is about judicial impeachments, it’s not up to Trump or his team to execute such a plan: Presidents have literally no formal or procedural role in the process. Rather, that power rests with Congress — where a group of far-right Republicans apparently interpreted Trump’s appeal as a directive. Axios reported:
Just hours after President Trump called for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against his deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans over the weekend, House Republicans introduced a measure to do just that. … Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) said Tuesday he is introducing articles of impeachment against Boasberg, arguing he “overstepped his authority, compromised the impartiality of the judiciary, and created a constitutional crisis.”