WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement Tuesday pushing back on calls by the president and his allies to impeach a federal judge who temporarily blocked the administration’s efforts to deport noncitizens under an 18th century wartime powers act.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a statement released by the Supreme Court. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts’ statement came hours after President Donald Trump posted a call for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg. Boasberg, who serves as the chief judge of the federal court in D.C., issued an emergency order over the weekend temporarily blocking the administration from deporting noncitizens under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act – a 1798 law giving the president the power to order the immediate arrest and deportation of noncitizens from a foreign country at war with the U.S.
Trump’s statement, posted on his social media site Truth Social, accused Boasberg of being a “troublemaker and agitator” and complained the judge had never been elected to office.
“He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING!” Trump wrote. “I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. 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!!!”
Boasberg, a former assistant federal prosecutor in the District, was first appointed to a federal judgeship on the D.C. Superior Court by President George W. Bush in 2002. In 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Boasberg for elevation to the D.C. District Court. Boasberg served for seven years on the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including a year as presiding judge, and took over as chief judge of the federal court in D.C. in 2023.
Trump has been no stranger to attacks on judges presiding over cases related to him. During his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump repeatedly attacked U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge in California presiding over a fraud case against the former Trump University, saying he couldn’t be impartial because of his Mexican heritage. And he complained for more than a year about U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was assigned the former election subversion case against him, and repeatedly sought to have her recuse or removed from the case.
Trump’s allies within and without the administration have also joined in on attacking judges, particularly billionaire Elon Musk. Musk, whose opaque role at the White House has spawn its own series of legal challenges, called last month for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge John Bates after the George W. Bush-appointee ruled the administration must temporarily restore certain health-related websites the CDC and other agencies had taken down following an executive order about removing “gender ideology” from the federal government.
Separately from Trump, the Justice Department has filed a motion with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have Boasberg removed from the case – arguing he overstepped his authority into the constitutional role of the president. Boasberg seemed unfazed by that motion Monday while he conducted an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the administration had violated his order with three flights on Saturday removing alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua from the country. Boasberg scheduled a follow-up hearing in that case on Friday afternoon.