In an apparent change of heart, President Donald Trump is now calling for the impeachment of a judge who ruled against his deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning. “WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
That call comes one day after the White House appeared to distance itself from comments made by billionaire and Trump confidante Elon Musk that the “absolute worst” judges should be impeached.
“I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked about Musk’s statements. “I know you mentioned Mr. Musk’s tweet, but I have not heard the president of the United States ask that.”
He now has.
Trump’s social media post does not name but appears to refer to U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, an Obama appointee who issued a two-week restraining order temporarily barring the Trump administration from deporting anyone under the Alien Enemies Act and immediately halting all such deportation activity that had already commenced.
While that’s a different judge than the one who drew Musk’s ire, Trump now publicly agrees that impeachment should be in the cards for judges who run afoul of the president.
“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President,” Trump wrote before outlining all the reasons he believes he has a mandate. “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do.”
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) wasted no time in following Trump’s lead, filing articles of impeachment against Boasberg within hours of the president’s post.
But Trump may not find much buy-in from Congress or in the legal community. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement in response to Trump’s call, saying that impeachment is not merited simply because the president does not like a judge’s ruling.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” said Roberts, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. “Normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
The Trump administration has already carried out one deportation flight of alleged Venezuelan gang members, possibly in defiance of Boasberg’s order, though White House officials claim the flight was in international airspace when the order arrived.
While Trump has faced numerous setbacks from the judicial branch, he is far from alone in that frustration.
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Federal judges frustrated the efforts of the Obama and Biden administrations as well, including a 2015 case in which a judge blocked the expansion of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Biden faced repeated courtroom setbacks, with his eviction moratorium, federal mask mandate, and student loan plans overturned by federal judges. The former president openly defied the court in the case of student loans, writing off billions of dollars’ worth of debt even after losing before the Supreme Court.
