Top House Republican remains noncommittal as lawmakers expand crusade against federal judges

WASHINGTON (CN) — House Republicans on Wednesday set out to build support for an expansive campaign aimed at ousting federal judges who they argue exhibited political bias by stepping in to block a raft of executive orders issued in the early weeks of President Donald Trump’s second administration.

But the lawmakers’ push to impeach the group of jurists — as many as a dozen — has yet to capture the unwavering support of House Republican leadership, who appear to prefer other methods of taking the judiciary to task for its rulings against the White House.

Federal courts in recent weeks have significantly stymied the Trump administration from implementing sweeping executive orders and other actions which critics have worried threaten constitutional separation of powers. Judges have put temporary holds on the White House’s effort to roll back birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants and have blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive payment systems at the Treasury Department, among other things.

Those temporary orders have angered some Republicans, who decried the judges issuing them as political activists and accused them of intentionally standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. Their complaints have been supercharged by White House officials and Musk himself, who has repeatedly called for the impeachments of judges who ruled against the president.

House lawmakers have heeded those calls, with Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles leading the charge. Ogles this week introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge John Bates, who ordered federal health agencies to restore online data which the Trump administration said promoted “gender ideology.”

The Tennessee Republican has also said he is drafting similar articles against U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who on Tuesday ordered the White House to resume payments for aid projects funded by the defunct U.S. Agency for International Development.

Other House Republicans have filed or plan to file impeachment articles against at least two other federal judges: Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde is preparing a resolution to oust District of Rhode Island Judge John McConnell, and Arizona Representative Eli Crane has introduced articles of impeachment against Southern District of New York Judge Paul Engelmayer.

The GOP lawmakers made their case for impeachment to their colleagues and to voters during a Wednesday episode of Ogles’ “Restoring the Republic” livestream.

Clyde, who accused federal judges of violating their oath to the Constitution, held up impeachment as “basically the only way” to address what he sees as judicial encroachment on the executive.

“We do have Article I authority here to impeach these individuals,” Crane agreed. “I know it’s a heavy lift … the bottom line is, if we’re going to stop these guys, it’s going to take action.”

Ogles, who spoke in front of a “wanted” poster featuring images of federal judges who have issued orders blocking Trump administration actions, argued that the jurists are “literally defying the president of the United States.”

Federal judges have the authority to issue so-called temporary restraining orders against executive actions, which are designed to provide relief to litigants while the courts examine a case.

Still, the lawmakers urged voters to call their representatives and press them to support judicial impeachments. And they had kind words for Musk, whose government efficiency effort, and its questionable legality, has been a common target of judicial review.

“You don’t have to do this,” Clyde told the billionaire. “You’re taking all kinds of slings and arrows for the American people.”

But while some GOP lawmakers seek to whip up support for impeaching federal judges, the idea has yet to gain traction among top House Republicans such as Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee — the first stop for any impeachment resolution.

Asked by Courthouse News whether the Judiciary Committee would take up any of the proposed impeachment articles, Jordan said “everything is on the table,” but that lawmakers are also looking at other options.

California Representative Darrell Issa this week unveiled a bill aimed at reducing the scope of nationwide injunctions such as those issued by judges ruling against the Trump administration. The push against broad injunctive relief is not a new one and enjoys more bipartisan support. Both Democrats and Republicans last year introduced bills aimed at ending so-called “judge shopping” and paring down on the use of nationwide injunctions as a method of blocking policy.

Jordan appeared more interested in Issa’s legislation and its approach, saying that lawmakers would examine how exactly Congress could clamp down on the use of injunctive relief. He did not answer questions about whether he thought impeaching federal judges is an appropriate action for lawmakers to take.

Ogles told Courthouse News on Wednesday that he had not yet discussed his impeachment effort with the Judiciary Committee chairman.

“We’ll be sending out more information soon,” he added.

On his livestream with Crane and Clyde, the Tennessee lawmaker alluded to even more impeachment action against federal judges. His “wanted” poster displayed during the broadcast featured eight other jurists in addition to the four already under impeachment threat.

The Trump administration and its allies have amped pressure on Congress in recent weeks to act against judges holding up its agenda. Musk, in a Tuesday post on X, argued that impeachment is the “only way” to address the issue.

“No one is above the law, including judges,” he wrote.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller also appeared to tip his hat to judicial impeachments, writing in a separate post on X Tuesday that there were nearly 700 federal judges across the country, “more than triple” the number of House Democrats.

“Letting the most radical extreme subset of those 700 run the executive branch at whim is like giving AOC and [Ilhan] Omar unilateral power to override any presidential election,” Miller wrote.

Federal judges, like the president, can be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors” as laid out in the Constitution. To remove a judge this way, the House would need to approve impeachment articles on a simple majority vote, and the Senate would need to convict the accused jurist on a 2/3 majority.

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