March 18 (UPI) — Chief Justice John Roberts scolded President Donald Trump Tuesday for his calling to impeach judges who rule against the Trump administration.
Roberts issued a rare statement against Trump’s call to impeach Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia James E. Boasberg after he blocked the president’s attempt to deport hundreds of Venezuelans.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said.
Under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, Trump used an executive order Saturday to authorize the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, alleged to be gang members, to El Salvador.
However, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order Saturday blocking the deportation for 14 days, preventing the government from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport any immigrants.
The order from Boasberg further ordered the government to comply immediately, including turning around any planes that may have already left with Venezuelan migrants.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration completed flights with deportees to El Salvador, sending more than 250 migrants by air.
Trump has since taken to social media, posting Tuesday a reference to Boasberg that he is a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator,” that Boasberg is “crooked” and “should be impeached!!!”
Rare as it may be for Roberts to respond as such, it’s not the first time he has called out Trump, as in 2018 he criticized Trump for singling out a judge who had ruled against his first administration as an “Obama judge.”
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” said Roberts, “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
