Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich railed against recent rulings against the Trump administration during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday morning, saying it was “clearly a judicial coup d’etat.”
Two House Judiciary subcommittees are holding a joint hearing examining the role of the judicial branch as Republicans look for ways to rein in federal judges after a string of rulings have slowed down the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, and slimming of the federal government.
“You don’t have this many different judges issuing this many different nationwide injunctions, all of them coming from the same political ideological background,” Gingrich said during the hearing.
“I agree, a lot of this stuff can be fought out, some should be fought out in the Congress,” he added, “but it shouldn’t be micromanaging the executive branch on national security issues by random single judges who have no standing, they have no particular knowledge, they haven’t been in the room.”
CONGRESS MOVES ON JUDICIAL REFORMS THIS WEEK AS COURTS HALT TRUMP’S AGENDA
The hearing, held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, was called to examine whether federal judges have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions against Trump.
“The notion that unelected lawyers can micromanage the executive branch and override a commander in chief who received 77.3 million votes should trouble every American,” Gingrich told lawmakers.
Alongside Gingrich, the panel is also hearing testimony from Heritage Foundation senior legal research fellow Paul Larkin; Cindy Romero, a “victim of criminal activity” by Tren de Aragua in Colorado; and Kate Shaw, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Still, Democrats on the panel are arguing that the judges are acting within their authority and simply overturning unconstitutional orders signed by the president.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) said her Republican colleagues called the hearing “for one reason: because this White House, this president, continues to lose over and over again in court as people and groups from across the political spectrum challenge the barrage of unconstitutional and illegal executive actions taken by his White House in just in these first few weeks of this term.”
“Because it doesn’t matter if the judges were put in by Bush or Biden or Obama or victim by Trump himself,” she continued. “When the president attacks illegal or unconstitutional actions, United States judges, guided by the letter of the law, must vote against him.”
Congressional Republicans are exploring several avenues to counter those rulings, including a bill sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) titled the No Rogue Rulings Act that would restrict judges from issuing far-reaching injunctions. That bill is expected to be voted on as soon as Wednesday.
House Republicans have introduced several articles of impeachment against judges who have ruled against the Trump administration as well.
Republicans are divided over impeaching the judges, with House GOP leadership shying away from pursuing the matter. However, Trump has publicly called for the impeachment of federal judges such as District Judge James Boasberg, who temporarily barred the administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rejected the calls for impeachment from Trump and other Republicans last month.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a rare statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
TOUGH ROAD TO IMPEACHING JUDGES RUNS THROUGH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
It is unlikely that any judge will be removed from the bench as any measure would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to succeed. Already, two Senate Republicans, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX), have voiced opposition to removing judges over disagreements with their rulings.
Only 15 judges have been impeached in U.S. history, with even fewer being removed by the upper chamber.