SCOOP: House Republicans revive push to impeach ‘activist’ judges after Johnson’s green light
FIRST ON FOX: House conservatives are reviving various pushes to impeach judges accused of blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gave his tacit approval earlier this week.
Ogles was among the conservative Trump allies who led the push to impeach judges last year as the administration engaged in legal battles with federal courts across the country over various rulings.
He previously introduced impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge John Bates for blocking a Trump executive order targeting transgender recognition under federal law, as well as District Judge Theodore Chuang after his ruling to stop a crackdown on foreign aid by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Neither of those impeachment resolutions or others targeting several other judges went anywhere at the time, however. House GOP leaders made clear they believed impeachment was an impractical way to deal with what Republicans saw as “activist judges” trying to influence policy rather than interpret law.
Johnson and other leaders instead favored a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to limit district judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions. That bill passed the House along partisan lines last year but was never taken up in the Senate.
The speaker sounded more enthusiastic about impeachment during his press conference on Wednesday, telling reporters, “I’m for it.”
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He named U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, specifically, who’s been targeted by Republicans after rulings on several key immigration cases involving Trump’s policies, including flying migrants to El Salvador and other countries instead of detaining them in the U.S.
Boasberg more recently raised GOP ire when it was revealed that Boasberg had signed off on decisions that allowed for the seizure of some Republican lawmakers’ phone records in former special counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost probe.
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“We’re going to do everything we can to push that forward. I mean the reality is that Boasberg has been acting as an agent of the Democrat Party for quite some time now,” Gill said. “I’m thrilled to see the speaker get on board. I think his leadership will be crucial in getting this passed.”
Gill said it was still early to predict whether it would see a House-wide vote but said his office was in contact with Johnson’s office about the measure, which he said was “moving in the right direction.”
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Other House Republicans who supported the push last year indicated they would do so again.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., said Johnson expressing support could strengthen the push.
But not all Republicans were as enthusiastic.
House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, said “everybody has to be willing to consider impeachment” as a power of Congress but said he did not know the details of the specific initiatives.
Democrats and other critics of the impeachment push have called it an unwarranted persecution of a co-equal branch of government, but supporters say it’s well within Congress’ right to use the impeachment process when they believe abuses have taken place.
