The chief justice of the United States on Tuesday rejected calls from President Donald Trump and his allies to impeach federal judges who have aggressively pushed back on the administration’s initiatives.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a rare statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Roberts spoke hours after Trump said on social media that U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg should be impeached for blocking the administration’s efforts to deport Venezuelan migrants without due process. It was the latest escalation by the new administration, which for weeks has been trying to cast doubt on the authority of courts to constrain the president.
Trump criticized Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, as a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge” and wrote: “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
Roberts is a fierce defender of the judiciary he oversees and has often expressed concern about criticism of its impartiality. In late December, Roberts emphasized in an annual report on the courts that personal attacks against judges had gone too far.
“Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” the report said.
Boasberg has been overseeing a case involving the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has previously been invoked only during wartime.
During a testy hearing on Monday, Boasberg sharply questioned government attorneys about why the Trump administration had not turned around planes carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members this weekend after he ordered any such deportees to return to the United States.
Boasberg had blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to speedily deport gang members. At the Monday hearing, the judge ordered the government to submit sworn declarations by noon Tuesday that explained how the incident unfolded.
Trump has a long history of criticizing judges, including in his own criminal trials. He unsuccessfully tried to remove the judge in his New York state trial, where he was convicted on charges of falsifying business records connected to a hush money payment to a porn star.
At the time, some Trump critics suggested that attacking the courts so directly would cost him swing votes. But Trump and his campaign hammered a message that he was being unfairly targeted by the justice system — a strategy the White House argues was, and is, a winning one.
Trump’s attacks come at a moment of increasing concern about attacks on judges amid a polarized political atmosphere.
Judge Richard Sullivan, a Republican appointee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, lamented the rising number of attacks on judges during a news conference earlier this month following a meeting of the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body for the federal judiciary.
“The threat landscape over the last several years has been devolving and it certainly involves more threats to judges,” Sullivan said. “A lot of this is technology based. It is easier than ever to make threats and it’s easier … to use the dark web to help convey those threats.”
The U.S. Marshals Service reported that threats against judges have tripled over the last decade, and it investigated more than 1,300 incidents in 2022.
In 2022, police arrested a man who had made threats against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh near his home. The man had a gun and a knife. The son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was shot and killed at her New Jersey home by a man who had attacked the judge and found her address online.
The incident prompted Congress to pass a law establishing stronger safeguards for the personal information of federal judges.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
