Donald Trump is right to call for the impeachment and removal of a federal judge who ruled against his hardline immigration policy, a deputy White House chief of staff said, amid predictions of a constitutional crisis should the administration continue to defy the courts.
“I think the president is right we should impeach activist partisan judges,” James Blair told Politico. “The question is, will that happen. I think that remains to be seen. We’ll see.”
Trump has called for the impeachment of James Boasberg, the chief US district judge in Washington DC, for issuing a temporary restraining order meant to halt deportations of supposed Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Drama played out last weekend as government lawyers defied Boasberg’s order, which reasoned that the act in question is meant to be used in wartime.
On Tuesday, Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment, labeling him a “radical left lunatic” and a “troublemaker”. As pointed out by reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday, Boasberg was made a judge by a Republican president, George W Bush, then elevated by a Democrat, Barack Obama.
In a rare rebuke, John Roberts, the chief justice of the supreme court, said on Tuesday: “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 process exists for that purpose.”
Jeremy Fogel, a retired federal judge, told NPR no judge in US history has been removed “because of dissatisfaction with his or her rulings”. J Michael Luttig, a retired conservative judge, spoke more strongly, telling MSNBC Trump had “declared war on the rule of law in America”.
Republican senators dismissed impeaching Boasberg. John Kennedy of Louisiana called the idea “idiotic”. John Cornyn of Texas said: “You don’t impeach judges who make decisions you disagree with.”
But Blair disagreed.
“I think it’ll be up to the speaker [of the House, Mike Johnson] to figure out what can be passed or not,” he told Politico. “This is the speaker’s job.
“… What we’re actually talking about is an obviously partisan judge somewhere has said the president of the United States does not have the power to deport illegal immigrants who are criminals … wreaking havoc on American citizens. And the president doesn’t have that power because somebody who wasn’t elected to a position that’s not laid out in the constitution said we can’t.
“There’s a legitimate public debate to be had about whether or not that is a democracy.”
Experts including Luttig rejected that argument, pointing out that under the constitution, Congress makes the law and presidents “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”, with the courts arbitrating disputes.
Blair said: “Ultimately the supreme court … will be the ones to answer that question” of whether Boasberg acted correctly. Saying he doubted “that a bunch of [House] floor time will be spent on something if they strongly feel like they can’t get the votes”, he added: “There are plenty of ways to encourage this public debate.”
Blair said Trump was “highlighting a critical issue and he is doing what he does, which is shine a big old spotlight on something that otherwise may be obscure or only sold through the mainstream media in a way that misrepresents his position.”
Slickly produced videos of the deportation operation have played across US media.
Asked if the call to impeach Boasberg was just political theater, Blair did not answer directly, instead saying Trump was right that “partisan judges” should be impeached.
