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0 The chief justice of the US Supreme Court has released a rare statement in response to President Donald Trump’s call to impeach a judge who ruled against his administration over migrant deportations.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement.
He added that the “normal appellate review process exists for that purpose”.
Trump earlier referred to US District Judge James Boasberg as a “troublemaker and agitator” after he ordered the administration to halt deportations of accused gang members to El Salvador.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Justice Roberts, who leads the Supreme Court, rarely issues public statements on political matters.
The conservative jurist wrote the majority opinion in Trump’s presidential immunity case last year.
His statement comes as Trump escalates attacks on the federal judges who have halted or ruled against many of his early actions as president.
Trump posted on Truth Social earlier on Tuesday, in which he attacked Judge Boasberg and said he should be impeached. “HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING!” he wrote. “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do.”
Removing a federal judge in an impeachment process would require the US House of Representatives to formally vote on articles of impeachment, and for two thirds of the US Senate to then vote for conviction.
The US Senate has considered the impeachments of 15 judges – including one US Supreme Court Justice – since the country’s founding. Of those, eight were found guilty in a US Senate trial.
Trump appeared to be responding to Judge Boasberg’s order that required the Trump administration to halt the deportations to El Salvador of more than 200 Venezuelans alleged by the White House to be gang members.
After lawyers told the judge that planes with deportees already had taken off, he reportedly gave a verbal order for the flights to turn back “immediately”, although that directive was not included in a written ruling published shortly thereafter.
Judge Boesberg called an additional hearing on Monday to question the Trump administration’s lawyers about why the flights had not returned to the US.
In the meantime, government lawyers said that the deportations had been paused. The Trump administration also asked in a court motion that Boasberg be removed from the case.
Trump has attacked judges in the past, frequently targeting those who oversaw his criminal and civil cases before he returned to the White House.
Since becoming president, he has criticised many of the judges who have blocked his administration’s policies and has joined some of his political allies – such as tech billionaire Elon Musk – in calling for their impeachment.
The president has also praised judges that he has viewed as favourable towards him. He has often complimented US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw and ultimately dismissed his criminal case over alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Since Justice Roberts backed Trump’s presidential immunity challenge, the president has also acted warmly towards the Supreme Court judge.
The ruling held that presidents had immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts conducted while in office, greatly expanding the power of the presidency. The decision also gave Trump additional leverage in the four simultaneous criminal cases he faced in 2024, only one of which went to trial and resulted in a conviction.
At Trump’s January inauguration, Roberts administered the oath of office, and Trump shook his hand and pointed at him.
Trump also appeared to personally thank Roberts at his 4 March address to Congress.
Though the Supreme Court justices have ideological leanings ranging from liberal to conservative, members attempt to maintain a distance from partisan politics.
Roberts’ statement was a rare rebuttal to a political statement made by a president about the role of the judicial system.
The US Supreme Court is expected to ultimately take up some legal challenges to Trump’s early actions, as the lawsuits make their way through the federal courts.
