Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public rebuke of President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the president called for the impeachment of a federal judge who blocked deportations under a controversial executive action invoking a centuries-old wartime law.
Last week, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to order the immediate apprehension and deportation of Venezuelan nationals allegedly affiliated with the Tren de Aragua criminal organization. The Alien Enemies Act permits the president to detain or deport citizens of hostile nations during declared wars or when the US faces an “invasion or predatory incursion.” The law has only been used three times previously in American history — during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
The unprecedented justification for mass deportation prompted an immediate legal challenge from civil liberties organizations representing five Venezuelan nationals who feared persecution if deported.
In response, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order blocking the deportations.
The Trump administration moved forward with the deportations of some 238 suspected members of Tren de Aragua to El Salvador, prompting the latter country’s leader to publish a post on X mocking Boasberg for being “too late.”
In a Monday filing, Trump administration lawyers argued that by the time the judge’s written order was published, these deportation flights had already exited US airspace, and thus were no longer subject to the court’s jurisdiction. They also argued that Boasberg lacked the authority to interfere with Trump’s executive powers with respect to national security and foreign affairs.
On Tuesday, Trump decried Boasberg as a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge” who “like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” (sic.) Tensions have escalated between the executive and judiciary branches since Trump began his second presidential term in January, when a flurry of presidential orders and actions met resistance in the form of numerous nationwide injunctions.
After signaling a reluctant early willingness to comply with court orders, Trump began to signal plans to scrutinize the judges who have gotten in the way of his reform attempts. “Hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth, much more than that, in just a short period of time. We want to weed out the corruption. It seems hard to believe that a judge could say, ‘We don’t want you to do that,’ so, maybe we have to look at the judges… I think it’s a very serious violation,” Trump said, as quoted in The New Republic.
The latest clash appears to be the most contentious yet, between the administration’s failure to comply with Boasberg’s order, and Trump’s call for the judge’s impeachment.
In a statement released to media outlets Tuesday, US Chief Justice Roberts warned that impeachment was not the answer. “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, as quoted by SCOTUS Blog.
Following Roberts’ statement, the American Bar Association expressed their support for the rebuke, saying: “Targeting judges personally or threatening to remove them because they rule a certain way has never been acceptable. Such efforts are intended to intimidate judges and our courts and weaken public trust and confidence in our judicial system. The ABA remains committed to upholding the rule of law that forms the bedrock of our democracy. The courts are a co-equal branch of our government, and they must be treated that way. Respect for judicial independence is nonnegotiable.”
