Roberts Rejects Call to Impeach Judge  03/19 06:22

   In an extraordinary display of conflict between the executive and judiciary 
branches, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching judges 
Tuesday, shortly after President Donald Trump demanded the removal of one who 
ruled against his deportation plans.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- In an extraordinary display of conflict between the 
executive and judiciary branches, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for 
impeaching judges Tuesday, shortly after President Donald Trump demanded the 
removal of one who ruled against his deportation plans.

   The rebuke from the Supreme Court's leader demonstrated how the controversy 
over recent deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members has inflamed 
tensions over the judiciary's role, with a legal case challenging Trump's 
actions now threatening to spiral into a clash of constitutional powers.

   "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is 
not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," 
Roberts said. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

   The rare statement came just hours after a social media post from Trump, who 
described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected "troublemaker 
and agitator." Boasberg had issued an order blocking deportation flights that 
Trump was carrying out by invoking wartime authorities from an 18th century law.

   "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 his social media platform, Truth Social. "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!!!"

   Although Trump has routinely criticized judges, especially as they limit his 
efforts to expand presidential power, his latest post escalated his conflict 
with a judiciary that's been one of the few restraints on his aggressive 
agenda. Impeachment is a rare step that is usually taken only in cases of grave 
ethical or criminal misconduct.

   In an interview with Fox News later on Tuesday, Trump emphasized that 
Roberts "didn't mention my name in his statement," suggesting that the chief 
justice could have been referring to other people who have said Boasberg should 
be impeached.

   Trump said Boasberg had overstepped his authority by interfering with 
deportation plans.

   "That's a presidential job," he said. "That's not for a local judge to be 
making that determination."

   Trump said he would not ignore a court order, a step that his administration 
has already been accused of taking.

   "No, you can't do that. However, we have bad judges," Trump said. He added 
that "at a certain point, you have to start looking at what do you do when you 
have a rogue judge."

   The relationship between Roberts and Trump has shifted through the years. 
Roberts emphasized judicial independence during Trump's first term, taking 
issue with the president's description of a judge who rejected his migrant 
asylum policy as an "Obama judge" in 2018.

   Before Trump was sworn in for his second term, Roberts warned against 
threats to the judiciary and called for even unpopular court decisions to be 
respected.

   The chief justice also had a prominent role in a major ruling last year that 
said presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution. The decision 
helped Trump avoid one of his criminal trials before the election that returned 
him to the White House.

   Trump greeted Roberts warmly earlier this month, thanking him and saying, "I 
won't forget," as the justices attended his address to a joint session of 
Congress. The president said later he was thanking Roberts for swearing him 
into office.

   The latest dispute involving the judiciary comes after a court challenged 
his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. It 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.

   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 Justice Department is also pushing in court to have Boasberg removed 
from the case.

   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 of the Senate.

   The president's latest social media post aligns him more with allies like 
billionaire 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 School of Law 
professor who specializes in the federal courts, said in an email.

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

   Just 15 judges have been impeached in the nation's history, according to the 
U.S. court's 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.

   Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The 
Associated Press on First- and Fifth-amendment grounds. The AP says the three 
are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White 
House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of 
Mexico as the Gulf of America.