By John Fritze | CNN
Chief Justice John Roberts pushed again on President Donald Trump’s escalating rhetoric in opposition to the federal judiciary on Tuesday in a extremely uncommon assertion that gave the impression to be aimed on the president’s name to question judges who rule in opposition to him.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts stated in a press release launched by the Supreme Court docket. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts’ assertion didn’t point out Trump by title, but it surely got here hours after the president stepped up his assaults on federal judges by particularly calling for US District Decide James Boasberg, who has briefly blocked the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, to be impeached.
A number of Trump allies, together with Elon Musk, have been calling for weeks to question judges amid a slew of preliminary rulings in opposition to the Trump administration. Trump’s rhetoric opposing the judiciary has been way more aggressive than throughout his first time period and the administration’s method has raised fears of a constitutional disaster.
Republican members of Congress, responding to the president, have moved to question federal judges, who serve lifetime appointments. A Texas Republican, Rep. Brandon Gill, stated on social media Tuesday that he launched articles of impeachment in opposition to Boasberg.
“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES,” Trump posted on Reality Social. “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
A White Home spokesman didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Uneasy relationship with conservatives
Roberts has had an uneasy relationship with some political conservatives, who’ve by no means forgiven him for upholding Obamacare in 2012 – despite the fact that he has repeatedly sided with conservatives on weapons, abortion, faith, affirmative motion and different main tradition warfare points.
Conservatives have a 6-3 benefit on the excessive court docket and Trump himself nominated three of the present justices. The court docket has regularly sided with him in main circumstances, most notably the choice final yr to grant former presidents vast immunity from prison prosecution for his or her official actions. However in a sequence of emergency orders since Trump’s return to the White Home, the court docket has preliminarily dominated in opposition to him.
On the identical time, Trump appeared particularly wanting to woo Roberts throughout his joint deal with to Congress earlier this month.
“Thank you again. I won’t forget it,” Trump may very well be heard telling Roberts on the Home ground. The president later claimed on social media that he was thanking Roberts for swearing him at this inauguration.
Gabe Roth, government director of the watchdog group Repair the Court docket, stated that Roberts made “an important point” together with his assertion however stated ”it’s a bit wealthy coming from the man that, by giving Donald Trump near-total immunity in a serious choice final yr, helped usher within the current period of lawlessness.”
Impeachment threats immediate response
The chief justice and the opposite members of the Supreme Court docket have largely remained silent as Trump and his allies have ramped up their assaults on the judiciary amid a slew of preliminary rulings that haven’t gone their means. Most of these circumstances are being appealed and can doubtless wind their means up the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court docket in coming weeks.
Although Roberts didn’t point out the case particularly, his assertion got here as attorneys for the administration and the American Civil Liberties Union are sparring earlier than a federal choose in Washington, DC, over the sudden elimination of Venezuelan nationals.
The Justice Division’s dealing with of the case has raised questions on whether or not the White Home defied a court docket order to show round any planes carrying Venezuelans instantly deported below the controversial Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg’s order wasn’t a closing choice however somewhat a short lived transfer designed to offer the court docket a couple of days to contemplate the arguments within the case. However the White Home has framed the choose as trying to usurp the ability of the presidency.
When Boasberg held a listening to on Monday in search of solutions about what particular steps the administration had taken after his order, DOJ attorneys initially declined to reply as a result of, they stated, they weren’t approved to take action citing nationwide safety considerations. In a sworn declaration made public Tuesday, immigration officers stated that the Venezuelan nationals eliminated after the choose’s order have been topic to elimination orders below different legal guidelines, not the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump is trying to invoke a 1798 regulation that permits the federal authorities to expedite deportations of residents of a “hostile nation” in occasions of warfare or when an enemy makes an attempt an “invasion or predatory incursion” into america. Opponents have famous the US just isn’t formally at warfare and has questioned whether or not the administration’s definition of “invasion” meets the regulation’s necessities.
That’s the query that courts – together with the Supreme Court docket – will doubtless finally be requested to type out.
Roberts’ assertion Tuesday was just like a rebuke the chief justice issued in 2018, when he responded to Trump’s remarks by saying that, “we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”
On the time, a choose from the Northern District of California had issued a short lived order blocking the primary Trump administration from barring migrants who cross into the US illegally from in search of asylum.
“It’s a disgrace when every case gets filed in the 9th Circuit,” Trump stated as a part of a prolonged criticism of the court docket. “That’s not law. Every case in the 9th Circuit we get beaten and then we end up having to go to the Supreme Court like the travel ban and we won. Every case, no matter where it is, they file is practically, for all intents and purposes, they file it in what’s called the 9th Circuit. This was an Obama judge. I’ll tell you what, it’s not going to happen like this anymore.”
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts, who was nominated to the Supreme Court docket by President George W. Bush, stated on the time. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.
Initially Revealed: March 18, 2025 at 2:33 PM PDT
