Justice Roberts rebukes Trump's call to impeach Venezuela deportation case judge
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Chief Justice John Roberts attends President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Chief Justice John Roberts said impeaching federal judges is "not an appropriate response" to disagreeing with their rulings in a rare statement Tuesday.
Why it matters: Roberts' extraordinary comments come as a rebuke to President Trump's Tuesday post saying the federal judge who ordered flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to turn around "should be IMPEACHED!!!"
- The Trump administration ignored the order, claiming it was issued after the flights had already departed and left American jurisdiction.
- In Tuesday court filings, the administration defended its decision to follow through with the deportations under an 18th century war time law, saying two of the three removal flights departed U.S. territory before District Judge James Boasberg issued an order blocking them.
- Go deeper: What to know about James Boasberg, judge Trump is targeting for impeachment ... Inside Trump's Supreme plot on immigration
Driving the news: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement shared by the Supreme Court's public information office.
- "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
What he's saying: Trump was asked for his reaction to the chief justice's comments during an appearance on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" Tuesday evening.
- "He didn't mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly," Trump told Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
- "But many people have called for his impeachment, the impeachment of this judge. I don't know who the judge is, but he's radical left. He was Obama-appointed," added Trump, saying such decisions represented "a presidential job," not one for a "local judge."
Zoom out: The back-and-forth between the administration and Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for D.C., has sparked ire from Trump allies, with one GOP lawmaker announcing Tuesday he had introduced articles of impeachment against the Obama appointee.
- Ahead of Rep. Brandon Gill's (R-Texas) Tuesday announcement, administration ally Elon Musk on X endorsed impeaching Boasberg as "necessary."
Flashback: Roberts' statement harkens back to a 2018 exchange where Roberts pushed back on Trump bashing the federal judiciary.
- The U.S. doesn't have "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement at the time responding to Trump's characterization of a judge who temporarily halted his first-term asylum ban as an "Obama judge."
- "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," Roberts said in his statement to the AP at the time.
- Trump on Tuesday similarly bashed Boasberg as a "Radical Left Lunatic" who was "sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."
The big picture: The controversial case is one of many in the Trump 2.0 era that could spiral into a lengthy legal battle and eventually reach the Supreme Court.
- One senior White House official told Axios' Marc Caputo the case is "headed to the Supreme Court," where the official predicted the administration would win.
Go deeper: John Roberts' long game
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from President Trump.
