President Biden, left, andDefense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.)
INJUNCTION LIFTED ON TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS SLASHING FEDERAL DEI SUPPORT
This is 2025. The Biden administration is long gone.
But the concept of impeachment hasn’t waned for some House Republicans. And even for President Donald Trump.
D.C. Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg ordered a two-week halt to the deportation of Venezuelan gang members after Trump leaned on the Enemy Aliens Act of 1798 to remove them from the U.S.
The president didn’t mention Boasberg by name, but he whipsawed the jurist on social media.
"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" wrote President Trump. He characterized Boasberg as a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."
President Donald Trump, Judge James Boasberg, Judge Amir Ali, Judge Ana Reyes (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images/U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia/ Senator Durbin via YouTube/Bill Pugliano via Getty Images)
TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW BAN ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., filed articles of impeachment for Biden two years ago. After inaction, Boebert attempted to fast-track her plan, circumventing the GOP leadership – to say nothing of hearings and preparation of the articles in committee. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., argued that impeachment was "too serious" to sidestep the rigorous steps usually undertaken. So, Republican leaders intervened.
Once Boebert’s resolution was up, they moved to euthanize the plan by sending it to the Homeland Security Committee. The full House actually voted on the motion to dispatch the resolution to committee – not on impeachment. Otherwise, the House would have voted on impeaching Mr. Biden on the spot – committee investigation or not.
Justice Roberts recently published a statement about impeachment threats. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Fox is told House GOP leaders are anxious about what to expect from conservative lawmakers, stoked by the possibility of impeachment. GOP leaders simply don’t want to burn valuable time on this issue.
But they’d like to talk about it.
Trump supports a bill crafted by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., titled the "No Rogue Rulings Act." The bill limits the scope of rulings by U.S. district judges, preventing their decisions from carrying nationwide weight.
"The President wants this," two White House sources told Fox News' Liz Elkind.
Issa characterized impeachment as a rather "dull tool" that should be restricted to actual criminality or malfeasance in office – such as the cases with Kent and Porteous. House Republican leaders could also shop the Issa bill to conservatives itching for impeachment as an alternative. However, even if the House were to OK Issa’s legislation, it would likely die in the Senate. It would need 60 votes to clear a filibuster.
By the same token, if the House were to impeach Boasberg or any other judge, pressure mounts on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to hold an impeachment trial. That could chew up valuable floor time as the Senate tries to wrestle with the complex "budget reconciliation" process to avoid a filibuster on President Trump’s plan to cut taxes and reduce the size of government.
Moreover, a Senate impeachment trial certainly would not result in removal. It takes 67 votes to convict a federal judge and extract them from the bench. That is not going to happen.
But the controversy over rulings of federal judges and President Trump’s executive orders won’t dissipate any time soon. Depending on your metric, federal courts have issued around 50 injunctions to halt various administrative moves by the President. There are anywhere from 130 to 140 total legal challenges floating about the court system.
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In 2023 and 2024, lots of conservatives chattered actively about the possibility of impeaching then-President Biden. Some saw it as retribution for the dual impeachments of President Trump. Others knew they could fundraise off impeachment. Maybe score some plaudits on social media. Still, others saw it as good politics in their district. They were happy to talk about impeachment for Biden but not necessarily vote for it. That’s why members looked at low-hanging fruit like Mayorkas. They considered targeting Lloyd Austin and the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Some of the loudest voices in the Republican Party will now clamor for the impeachment of "activist judges." That is what they say publicly, but public conversations are very different from private ones. And that is why "impeachapalooza" is here to stay in the 119th Congress.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/reporters-notebook-impeachapalooza-here-stay