NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
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.
“I just spoke to him on the House floor, and he’s still in support, so we’re going to push to move forward on at least one,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital in the early evening on Thursday.
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).
EX-JUDGES BLAST TOP TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FOR DECLARING ‘WAR’ ON COURTS
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.
But the speaker sounded more enthusiastic about impeachment during his press conference on Wednesday, telling reporters, “I’m for it.”
JOHNSON CHANGES TUNE ON JUDICIAL IMPEACHMENTS AFTER ‘EGREGIOUS ABUSES’ OF TRUMP AGENDA
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 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.
A resolution to impeach Boasberg led by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, gained traction among conservatives last year, and the Texas Republican told Fox News Digital he was heartened by Johnson’s comments on Thursday.
DOJ ORDERS LAWYERS TO REPORT JUDICIAL ‘OBSTACLES’ IN IMMIGRATION, ANTIFA CASES
“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.”
A source familiar with his effort told Fox News Digital that his resolution to impeach Boasberg gained two new House GOP co-sponsors after Johnson’s comments this week.
FRESH TRUMP-LINKED CASE PUTS BOASBERG BACK IN GOP CROSSHAIRS
Other House Republicans who supported the push last year indicated they would do so again.
“I’d be all for it,” Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. He said of Boasberg specifically, “I think he’s one of the most forthright judicial activists on the bench and that’s not why he was put on the bench.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., said Johnson expressing support could strengthen the push.
“There’s a lot of respect for Speaker Johnson, especially as a constitutional lawyer — he’s someone that a lot of people have a lot of confidence in,” Stutzman told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he’s willing to step out there as a Speaker of the House, it says a lot.”
Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital, “I think there’s more of an appetite and less of a hesitation than there was earlier in the Congress. We had an agenda. We didn’t want to be distracted with potential impeachment, but I think now, as we’re realizing things are not getting better, the people around the nation are expecting us to hold this judge and others like him accountable.”
But not all Republicans were as enthusiastic.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., who was supportive of the GOP’s judicial impeachment fervor last year, told Fox News Digital Thursday that he was not sure it could survive the committee process needed before a House-wide vote.
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.
“I will reinforce how much I like Issa’s bill. It moves it away from political rhetoric into, ‘Hey, let’s do something substantive here,'” Moore told Fox News Digital. “It’s a pretty innovative solution in a very sound way.”
Read the full article here
