House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) came out in support on Wednesday of impeaching federal judges who stall President Donald Trump’s executive actions.
“I think some of these judges have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they’re supposed to operate,” said Johnson. “It would not be, in my view, a bad thing for Congress to lay down the law, so to speak, and make an example of some of these egregious abuses.”
The speaker said he believes impeachment is still an “extreme measure,” but “extreme times call for extreme measures.”
Republicans in the House and Senate have pushed for impeachment against various judges, particularly Judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), a House Republican freshman, filed articles of impeachment in March 2025 against Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, for temporarily blocking immigration deportation flights. In April of last year, the House passed the No Rogue Rulings Act, which restricts the ability of judges to block federal policies nationwide.
Despite the bill not moving in the upper chamber, some Senate Republicans are urging the House to take a stronger stance.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter to Johnson on Jan. 7 calling on the House to take up the filed impeachment articles against Boasberg and Boardman, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
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“Both cases reveal a judiciary that has explicitly ignored its constitutional duties. I urge the House to take up its constitutional duty and advance the impeachment resolutions introduced by Representatives Gill and Roy,” Cruz wrote in his letter to Johnson.
An amendment from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), which called for cutting appeals court funding for the District of Columbia by 20% and eliminating the budgets of Judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, failed last week during a vote on an appropriations minibus.