House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said he is planning committee hearings on how to respond to federal judges’ decisions to block Trump administration directives, signaling there may be “another legislative remedy” instead of impeachment.
On March 16, District Judge James Boasberg in Washington blocked the Trump administration from using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of a transnational Venezuelan gang and ordered a deportation flight that was en route to El Salvador to return to the United States. On March 18, one Republican lawmaker introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg and suggested the judge’s decision was an unconstitutional action.
“That’s why we passed legislation,” Jordan added. “There may be a legislative—another legislative remedy we want to look at.”
There will be House hearings on the judges’ decisions and possible impeachments in “the next several weeks,” the Republican chairman added in the CNN interview. Jordan did not elaborate on what options aside from impeachment Republicans may pursue.
Jordan stated that nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges have been more commonplace under the Trump administrations than the Biden administration, while suggesting that he believes Americans aren’t happy with Boasberg’s decision.
“And frankly, when the American people hear this, they’re like: ‘What is this judge doing? The president runs the executive branch,’“ Jordan said. ”‘He’s the one who put his name on a ballot, got elected. He’s entitled to make these kind of decisions and not have some judge jump into the executive branch function and say that he can’t do it.’”
On March 15, Boasberg imposed a two-week halt to deportations under the Alien Enemies Act that Trump had invoked to declare that Tren de Aragua was conducting irregular warfare against the United States. In February, the gang was declared a foreign terrorist organization, along with the MS-13 gang and certain named Mexican drug cartels.
On March 19, the judge asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address why deportation flights landed in El Salvador anyway, giving a March 20 deadline for DOJ lawyers to respond. Trump administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, have said Boasberg exceeded his authority in issuing the nationwide injunction.
Trump on March 18 wrote on Truth Social that Boasberg should be impeached, prompting a rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. In a rare statement issued to the public, Roberts said that judges should be impeached only under extraordinary circumstances.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts wrote in his statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Other than Trump, several congressional Republicans, Trump adviser Elon Musk, and others have suggested Boasberg and other federal judges be impeached in response to court rulings that have stymied the administration’s decisions in recent weeks.
In order to remove a judge or another official from office, the House must first pass articles of impeachment by a simple majority vote. The Senate must then vote by a two-thirds majority, however, in order to convict and remove an official. Republicans control both the House and Senate, but they do not have a two-thirds majority in the upper chamber.
