Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he would be holding hearings as early as next week on recent judicial rulings against actions undertaken by the Trump administration.
The announcement comes as several members of Congress are filing articles of impeachment against the federal judges who have stepped in to prevent Trump administration policies from taking effect.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., announced last month that he will be filing articles of impeachment against Chief District Judge John McConnell Jr. for the District of Rhode Island. McConnell has blocked an Office of Management and Budget order that would have frozen all federal grant, loan, and financial assistance programs.
Clyde told The Daily Signal that “Impeachment is a critical tool at our disposal to combat judicial activism, the Left’s latest form of lawfare. It’s ultimately up to the House to decide on whether to utilize this authority, and I’m hopeful that we will, in order to hold these radical judges accountable.”
“After all, if any judge can weaponize their power to usurp the president’s legitimate Article II authority and defy the will of the American people, then we no longer have a constitutional republic,” Clyde said. The Georgia congressman has also co-sponsored articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, against Chief District Judge James Boasberg for the District of Columbia.
Boasberg ruled that the Trump administration had to return Venezuelan migrants that had been deported. Gill contended in a press statement that Boasberg, who was appointed in 2011 by Democrat President Barack Obama, is seeking to prevent the president from enforcing the Alien Enemies Act.
“Judge Boasberg has gravely overstepped his authority, usurping the constitutional power of the commander in chief. President Trump is securing America’s neighborhoods; restoring safety for men, women, and children who call this nation home. We will not tolerate radical, politically motivated judges illegally and unconstitutionally stopping the president from carrying out his mandate,” Gill said in a press statement.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told The Daily Signal that the judiciary was not responsible for making public policy.
“The judicial branch is not the [human resources] department of the federal government, nor does it set national or foreign policy. It solely interprets the law, and certainly should never engage in judicial insurrection,” Perry said.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told The Daily Signal that the rulings demonstrated a problem with the country’s federal judicial system. “The recent surge in activist judges blocking the president’s executive orders is evidence of the broken federal judiciary,” Norman said, adding:
It takes five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling, yet one sole district judge can decide to rule the entire executive branch? It’s bogus and Congress must act immediately.
The Trump administration also filed a formal misconduct complaint with the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit against Judge Ana Reyes. Reyes, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, was accused by the Department of Justice of violating the code of conduct for federal district judges during a hearing on the president’s ban on transgender troops in the military. Reyes subsequently blocked Trump’s ban from taking effect, even though it had been permitted by the Supreme Court during Trump’s first term.
