Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Calls for Impeaching Federal Judge Who Ruled Against His Deportations
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 1 day ago on
March 18, 2025

President Trump's call for impeaching a federal judge marks an intensifying clash between executive and judicial branches. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

Share

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a federal judge who tried to stop his deportation plans should be impeached, escalating his conflict with a judiciary that’s been one of the few restraints on his administration’s aggressive plans.

Trump has routinely criticized judges, especially as they limit his efforts to expand presidential power and impose his sweeping agenda on the federal government. But his call for impeachment — a rare step that is usually taken only in cases of grave ethical or criminal misconduct — represents an intensifying clash between the judicial and executive branches.

Trump’s Social Media Attack on Judge

The Republican president described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator” in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. Boasberg recently issued an order blocking deportation flights under wartime authorities from an 18th century law that Trump invoked to carry out his plans.

“HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 has been used only three times before in U.S. history, all during congressionally declared wars. Trump issued a proclamation that the law was newly in effect due to what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. His administration is paying El Salvador to imprison alleged members of the gang.

Legal Proceedings and Constitutional Concerns

Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, convened a hearing on Monday to discuss what he called “possible defiance” of his order after two deportation flights continued to El Salvador despite his verbal order that they be turned around to the U.S.

Trump administration lawyers defended their actions, saying Boasberg’s written order wasn’t explicit, while an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said “I think we’re getting very close” to a constitutional crisis.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority, the power to impeach a judge with a simple majority vote. But, like a presidential impeachment, any removal requires a vote from a two-thirds majority from the Senate.

The president’s latest social media post aligns him more with allies like Elon Musk, who has made similar demands.

“What we are seeing is an attempt by one branch of government to intimidate another branch from performing its constitutional duty. It is a direct threat to judicial independence,” Marin Levy, a Duke University law professor who specializes in the federal courts, said in an email.

White House Response and Historical Context

Just one day earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges.”

Only 15 judges have been impeached in the nation’s history, according to the U.S. courts governing body, and just eight have been removed.

The last judicial impeachment was in 2010. G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of New Orleans was impeached on charges he accepted bribes and then lied about it. He was convicted by the Senate and removed from office in December 2010.

Calls to impeach judges have been rising as Trump’s sweeping agenda faces pushback in the courts, and at least two members of Congress have said online they plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Boasberg. House Republicans already have filed articles of impeachment against two other judges, Amir Ali and Paul Engelmayer, over rulings they’ve made in Trump-related lawsuits.

Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy

DON'T MISS

Clovis Residents Lose Over $250,000 in Fraud Scheme, Police Warn

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Confirms Second Measles Case. Exposure Warning Issued

DON'T MISS

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rate Unchanged, Sees Slower Growth, Slightly Higher Inflation Ahead

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced for Having 146 Pounds of Fentanyl, Cocaine

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Will Gov. Newsom Be the 2028 Dem Presidential Nominee?

DON'T MISS

Newsom Accelerates Fresno County Solar Project Powering 300K Homes

DON'T MISS

New CA Fire Maps Will Change How Some Valley Homes Are Built

DON'T MISS

Social Security Administration to Require In-Person Identity Checks for Recipients

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jarrett Steven Huddleston

UP NEXT

Clovis Residents Lose Over $250,000 in Fraud Scheme, Police Warn

UP NEXT

Fresno County Confirms Second Measles Case. Exposure Warning Issued

UP NEXT

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rate Unchanged, Sees Slower Growth, Slightly Higher Inflation Ahead

UP NEXT

Wired Wednesday: Will Gov. Newsom Be the 2028 Dem Presidential Nominee?

UP NEXT

Newsom Accelerates Fresno County Solar Project Powering 300K Homes

UP NEXT

New CA Fire Maps Will Change How Some Valley Homes Are Built

UP NEXT

Social Security Administration to Require In-Person Identity Checks for Recipients

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jarrett Steven Huddleston

UP NEXT

Legal Showdown as Justice Department Clashes with Judge Over Deportation Flight Details

UP NEXT

Where Are Convicted Bitwise CEOs Serving Their Prison Terms?

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rate Unchanged, Sees Slower Growth, Slightly Higher Inflation Ahead

1 hour ago

Fresno Man Sentenced for Having 146 Pounds of Fentanyl, Cocaine

1 hour ago

Wired Wednesday: Will Gov. Newsom Be the 2028 Dem Presidential Nominee?

2 hours ago

Newsom Accelerates Fresno County Solar Project Powering 300K Homes

2 hours ago

New CA Fire Maps Will Change How Some Valley Homes Are Built

2 hours ago

Social Security Administration to Require In-Person Identity Checks for Recipients

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jarrett Steven Huddleston

3 hours ago

Legal Showdown as Justice Department Clashes with Judge Over Deportation Flight Details

3 hours ago

Where Are Convicted Bitwise CEOs Serving Their Prison Terms?

3 hours ago

Ohtani Hits Solo HR in Return to Japan as Dodgers Sweep Cubs

3 hours ago

White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy

The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would suspend about $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over i...

15 minutes ago

The White House in Washington, Feb. 6, 2025. The Secret Service shot a man near the White House early Sunday around midnight on Saturday after an “armed confrontation” with law enforcement officers, the agency said in a statement. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
15 minutes ago

White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy

37 minutes ago

Clovis Residents Lose Over $250,000 in Fraud Scheme, Police Warn

44 minutes ago

Fresno County Confirms Second Measles Case. Exposure Warning Issued

1 hour ago

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rate Unchanged, Sees Slower Growth, Slightly Higher Inflation Ahead

1 hour ago

Fresno Man Sentenced for Having 146 Pounds of Fentanyl, Cocaine

2 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Will Gov. Newsom Be the 2028 Dem Presidential Nominee?

2 hours ago

Newsom Accelerates Fresno County Solar Project Powering 300K Homes

2 hours ago

New CA Fire Maps Will Change How Some Valley Homes Are Built

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend