Angry about court rulings against the Trump administration, Republicans in Congress are proposing to limit the reach of the federal judiciary's rulings, cut funding and even impeach judges, tightening the GOP’s grip on government, says The Associated Press.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Tuesday that “desperate times call for desperate measures,” without mentioning impeachment.
“We do have authority over the federal courts,” Johnson said. “We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts, and all these other things.”
House GOP leaders met Tuesday with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is to hold a hearing on the issue next week.
The House also is expected to vote next week on a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., that would limit the geographic reach of certain federal rulings, to prevent temporary restraining orders from being enacted nationwide.
Passing Issa’s legislation on the House floor would be a less severe response than pursuing impeachment of Judge James Boasberg, a move called for by right-wing lawmakers and President Trump over the judge's rulings on the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
“No federal judge has been impeached strictly for the outcome of a case,” says longtime New York Times congressional reporter Carl Hulse. “And even if the House were to summon the necessary majority to impeach a judge, persuading the required 67 senators to convict and remove a judge over a ruling would be highly unlikely.”
Fifteen federal judges have been impeached in the United States, and eight have been convicted and removed, mainly for criminal acts like bribery and conflicts of interest, Hulse says.
As far as cutting funding for the courts, the appropriations subcommittee that oversees that spending bill is chaired by Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, a former prosecutor, self-described pragmatist and one of the more moderate members of the House GOP conference, says NBC News.
And even if House Republicans managed to pass a defunding bill, the Senate almost certainly would reject it, NBC News says.
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