‘Potential impeachment referrals’: DOJ assembling examples of ‘egregious abuses’ by federal judges

Federal judges who actively oppose President Donald Trump’s White House agenda already have been the subject of ethics complaints – only to be protected by other federal judges.

They been cited in impeachment petitions, which are unlikely to succeed in the Senate as Democrats there are expected to endorse even the most outlandish courtroom behaviors.

But those actions, such as James Boasberg’s court orders that Trump turn jets around mid-air in order to return criminal illegal aliens to the U.S. or that the president must fetch some 100 of those criminals from jails in other countries, are going on the record.

A report from Bloomberg Law points out that the Department of Justice is “soliciting examples of perceived judicial activism from all U.S. attorneys’ offices to inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress.”

Entry-level judges in the federal court system repeatedly have overruled, or tried to overrule, Trump, actually imposing their will, sometimes on a worldwide basis, on his Executive Branch actions. They’ve decided who the president can hire, or fire, from the Executive Branch. They’ve decided what prisoners can be jailed and where. They’ve decided what Trump must spend on various programs.

Their activism already has resulted in a Supreme Court decision that they are no longer allowed to issue nationwide injunctions, a decision they’ve worked around by then declaring plaintiffs to be a “class.”

The report cited two people familiar with a recent virtual meeting who explained chief prosecutors and other leaders of the 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices “were told to provide DOJ headquarters with vivid instances in which judges obstructed through adverse rulings.”

The official delivering the instructions, the report said, was an adviser to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and said details were being collected so that the DOJ can determine when judges should be referred to the U.S. House for impeachment.

A DOJ official, not identified, said, “The Department of Justice solicited the most egregious examples of this obstruction from our U.S. Attorney Offices to assist Congress with efforts to rein in judges violating their oaths in accordance with their constitutional oversight authority of the judicial branch.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans already have expressed the will to impeach at least two federal judges cited for rulings “seen as unfavorable to the administration,” the report said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said such extreme measures are warranted by the “egregious” behavior.

The numbers are in favor of the rogue judges, as a House vote on impeachment would require literal unanimity, and in the Senate, removing a judge would take 67 votes, which the GOP at this point does not have.

“We don’t do one unless we think we truly have the elements necessary for the Senate to agree with us,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chair of the House Judiciary Committee panel, told the publication.

Actions already on the record include various judges refusing to sign criminal complaints and search warrants even though there was “clear probable cause.”