US President Donald Trump's rumbling conflict with the judiciary burst into open confrontation yesterday as Supreme Court Justice John Roberts issued a rare public rebuke of a US president over his call for the impeachment of a federal judge.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Judge Roberts said in a brief statement.
"The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
Judge Roberts's extraordinary rebuke of the president came after Mr Trump called for the impeachment of District Judge James Boasberg, who over the weekend ordered the suspension of deportation flights of alleged illegal migrants.
The White House has been sharply critical of district courts that have blocked some of Mr Trump's executive actions.
However, this was the first time Mr Trump has personally called for a judge's impeachment since he took office in January, saying that Judge Boasberg was a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."
"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges' I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" he said in a Truth Social post.
Hours later, Brandon Gill, a Republican politician from Texas, announced on X that he had introduced articles of impeachment in the House against Judge Boasberg, who he described as a "radical activist judge."
'Extremely rare' intervention
Following Judge Roberts's rare statement, Mr Trump said in another post: "If a President doesn't have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!"
Federal judges are nominated by the president for life and can only be removed by being impeached by the House of Representatives for "high crimes or misdemeanors" and convicted by the Senate.
Impeachment of federal judges is exceedingly rare and the last time a judge was removed by Congress was in 2010.
Mr Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has a history of attacking the judges who presided over his civil and criminal cases.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, described Judge Roberts's intervention as "extremely rare" and recalled that the chief justice made similar remarks after Mr Trump criticised the rulings of federal judges during his first term.
Judge Roberts was compelled to respond at the time by saying the federal bench "does not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges, or Clinton judges," Mr Tobias said.
Court hearing
Judge Boasberg ordered a suspension on Saturday to the deportation flights taking alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador, where they were put in prison.
The White House invoked little-used wartime legislation known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as legal justification for the move.
However, no evidence has been made public to confirm the deportees were gang members or even in the country illegally.
Judge Boasberg held a hearing on Monday on whether the White House had deliberately ignored his orders by carrying out the flights.
Justice Department lawyers told the judge the more than 200 Venezuelan migrants had already left the US when he issued a written order barring their departure.
Judge Boasberg no longer had jurisdiction once the planes had left US airspace, they claimed.
The Justice Department had previously filed a motion with an appeals court seeking to have the judge removed from the case for allegedly interfering with the president's lawful "conduct of foreign policy."
Mr Trump, in his Truth Social post yesterday, said Judge Boasberg "was not elected President."
"I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY," he wrote.
The Yale-educated Judge Boasberg was appointed to the DC Superior Court by president George W Bush, a Republican, and later named a district court judge by Mr Obama, a Democrat.
The White House has repeatedly lashed out following court rulings it disagrees with, such as the rejection of Mr Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship.
Mr Trump's bid to amass power in the executive has increasingly raised fears he will openly defy the judiciary, triggering a constitutional crisis.
