Chief Justice Roberts says Trump’s call to impeach district court Judge Boasberg ‘is not an appropriate response’ to disagreement over ruling
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
In a statement Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stated that impeachment “is not an appropriate response” to disagreeing with a judicial decision, coming after President Donald Trump called for the impeachment of the Obama-appointed judge who ordered for planes full of gang members being deported to El Salvador be stopped over the weekend.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said in a rare statement, per NBC News.
Trump wrote on Tuesday morning, “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, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, 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. 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!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump added.
On Saturday, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was quickly challenged in court. Judge James Boasberg issued an order Saturday evening temporarily halting use of the act, the timing of which has come under questioning after planes with gang members departed from the US to El Salvador. The Trump administration has said that it complied with the written order from Boasberg, which was issued after the planes were in the air.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when pressed on the issue, “All of the planes that were subject to the written order—the judge’s written order—took off before the order was entered in the courtroom on Saturday, and the administration will, of course, be happily answering all of those questions that the judge poses in court later today.”
In the hearing, lawyers representing the Trump administration argued that the administration “complied with the [written] order,” and argued that it took precedence over the oral order given by Boasberg at 6:45 pm on Saturday.
