US Chief Justice Rejects Calls to Impeach Judges Who Rule against Trump
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - US Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement on Tuesday, rebuking US President Donald Trump and his allies for calling to impeach judges who have ruled against the administration.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," Roberts said in the statement, NBC News reported.
Trump allies have called for various judges to be impeached for blocking administration policies in the first months of his second term.
But Trump himself raised the stakes on Tuesday, when he called for the impeachment of US District Judge James Boasberg after he blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants.
"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" Trump posted.
Trump responded to Roberts’ during a Fox News interview that aired Tuesday night, saying “many people” have called for Boasberg's impeachment.
Trump added that he "never did" defy a court order.
When asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham whether he would defy a court order going forward, Trump said: “No, you can’t do that. However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges, and these are judges that shouldn’t be allowed. I think they, I think at a certain point you have to start looking at, what do you do when you have a rogue judge?”
Trump said he believes the Supreme Court will ultimately rule in favor of his administration in this matter.
Soon after Roberts issued his statement, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, wrote on X that he had introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg.
He claimed Boasberg had committed an impeachable offense by issuing a temporary restraining order against the administration over its novel invocation of a wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act to deport certain illegal immigrants.
While a handful of federal judges have been removed from office in the past, it has been because of gross misconduct in office, such as taking bribes, not as a result of individual decisions they have made.
Federal judges have frequently intervened on Trump's agenda since he took office again in January and implemented a set of aggressive policies that raised several novel legal issues. That has angered the administration and the broader MAGA base, leading to increasingly frequent calls for impeachment and raising concerns within the judiciary.
Just last week, federal judges raised the alarm about security concerns and urged public officials to use caution when they criticize court rulings.
