U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Cruz, a House Judiciary Committee member with an extensive legal background, said the House needed to initiate impeachment proceedings over controversial gag orders Boasberg signed in 2023 and a sentence Boardman handed down last year in the case of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s attempted assassin.
Impeachment proceedings must be initiated in the House and typically run through the House Judiciary Committee.
Russell Dye, a spokesman for the GOP-led committee, said "everything is on the table" when asked if Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was open to the idea. If the House were to vote in favor of impeachment, it would then advance to the Senate. Two-thirds of senators would need to vote to convict the judges and remove them, a highly improbable scenario because the vote would require some support from Democrats.
Cruz’s counterpart at the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., defended the judges and accused Republicans of threatening impeachment as an effort to intimidate the judiciary as it routinely issues adverse rulings against the Trump administration.
"There was a time when I'd have hoped a Senate Judiciary subcommittee would not be roped into a scheme to amplify pressure and threats against a sitting federal judge," Whitehouse said. "But here we are."
Judge Deborah Boardman speaking to Congress (Fox News)
Prosecutors seeking gag orders is not unusual, but senators have added layers of protection from prosecution under the Constitution. The targeted Republicans have decried the subpoenas, saying their rights were violated.
Smith and an official representing the federal courts have both said that Boasberg was not notified that the subpoenas and gag orders were related to members of Congress.
Rob Luther, a law professor at George Mason University, was a witness for Republicans at the hearing and said Boasberg still should not have signed the gag orders without knowing who they applied to. Luther cited stipulations included in the orders.
"One must ask on what basis Judge Boasberg found that the disclosure of subpoenas would result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and cause serious jeopardy to the investigation, end quote," Luther said. "Did Judge Boasberg merely rubber stamp the requested gag order, or was he willfully blind?"
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Smith's actions also aligned with a DOJ policy at the time that did not require the special counsel to alert the court that the subpoenas targeted senators, a point raised by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., during the hearing. Luther said the policy did not matter.
"DOJ policy does not supplant federal law," he said.
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cruz-demands-impeachment-boasberg-judge-who-sentenced-kavanaughs-attempted-assassin