Connect with us

News

‘Grave Moral Evil’: Republicans Are Moving to Impeach Judges Over Anti-DOGE Rulings

Published

on

Far-right House Republicans are pushing to impeach federal judges, alleging “high crimes and misdemeanors” in response to rulings that opposed actions by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). One congressman denounced a judge as a “predator” and a “radical anti-LGBTQ activist,” while another argued that blocking DOGE reflected bias against Trump voters. A third asserted that Congress has the “authority to impeach judges to defend the will of the people.”

Courthouse News reporter Benjamin S. Weiss notes that three federal judges have been targeted for impeachment by multiple members of Congress.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Bates

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) made unsubstantiated accusations against Senior Judge John Bates, a Bush appointee serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Bates was also appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the FISA Court and to serve as the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

READ MORE: ‘Axis of Evil’: U.S. Slammed for Voting with Russia, North Korea Against Ukraine at UN

“I just formally introduced articles of impeachment against RADICAL LGBTQ ACTIVIST U.S. District Judge John Bates. His attempt to block President Trump’s order to remove webpages containing resources for ‘gender-affirming care’ from government sites is appalling,” Congressman Ogles declared.

“At no point in American history has the judiciary considered the surgical or chemical castration of healthy children to be a compelling or even legitimate health concern and it shouldn’t start now,” he alleged, wrongly framing the judge’s actions. “We must protect our children from predators like Judge Bates.”

According to an extensive report in The Washington Post, however, Judge Bates had “ordered the nation’s premier health agencies to restore online access to several websites that monitor HIV, health risks for youths and assisted reproductive technologies, which were abruptly taken offline to ensure they complied with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on gender.”

Judge Bates wrote in his opinion: “By removing long relied upon medical resources without explanation, it is likely that … each agency failed to ‘examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action.’”

The Post adds that Bates found “that the health agencies probably violated federal law in taking down the scientific data. He ordered the agencies to restore access to the websites.”

In a video posted to social media (below), however, Rep. Ogles insisted the webpages Bates ordered restored were about “transgender surgeries.” In a press release attacking Judge Bates, Ogles went even further in wrongly characterizing the judge’s actions.

“The continued socialization of this grave moral evil necessitates immediate Congressional action against those promoting it. America’s founders gave Congress the authority to impeach judges to defend the will of the people,” Congressman Ogles falsely claimed. The founders did not give Congress authority to impeach judges to defend the will of the people. “My articles will do just that. It is unacceptable for rogue judges to implicate taxpayers in woke LGBTQ propaganda and the irreversible destruction of children’s bodies.”

U.S. District Chief Judge John “Jack” McConnell Jr.

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) has “threatened to file articles of impeachment” against U.S. District Chief Judge John “Jack” McConnell Jr. who, Fox News reports, “filed a motion ordering the Trump administration to comply with a previous restraining order. The order temporarily blocked the administration’s efforts to pause federal grants and loans.”

READ MORE: Trump Mass Firings May Be ‘Contrary’ to Law, Watchdog Rules

According to Fox News, “McConnell has since come under fire from Trump supporters and conservatives who have accused him of being a liberal activist after a 2021 video of him saying courts must ‘stand and enforce the rule of law, that is, against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot’ resurfaced online.”

WPRI reports that Musk wrote on X: “Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system,” and later, “Impeach this pseudo-jurist!!”

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer

Last week, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) filed articles of impeachment alleging U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer “engaged in judicial misconduct when he halted President Donald J. Trump’s Executive order establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency on purely political grounds, demonstrating clear bias and prejudice against the President and the 74,000,000 Americans who voted for him.”

Congressman Van Orden also charged the judge with “improper handling” of that case.

Reporting on the articles of impeachment, Bloomberg Law noted that U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) is also filing to impeach Judge Engelmayer.

In a press release, Congressman Crane says Judge Engelmayer “responded to an overtly political emergency request by 19 Democratic attorneys general aiming to prevent Trump administration officials from accessing a payment system within the Treasury Department.”

Bloomberg reported that the “acts against Engelmayer come after Musk called for judicial impeachments, in response to judges issuing court orders that blocked many Trump administration actions.”

During Musk’s Oval Office press conference, President Trump, Axios reported, had said, “Maybe we have to look at the judges because I think that’s a very serious violation.”

But it was Vice President JD Vance who perhaps made the most waves when he wrongly claimed that federal judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

Watch Congressman Ogles’ video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Here’s a Civics Lesson for You’: Stephen Miller Schooled by Democratic Congresswoman

 

Image of Rep. Ogles via Wikimedia/public domain

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Is Canada Next?’ Ex-Trump Official Says Greenland Threat Worse Than Imagined

Published

on

A former top Trump official is warning that President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland are worse than could be imagined, and wonders if he will stop there or target another close U.S. ally, like Canada, next.

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s National Security Adviser during the first Trump administration, told NewsNation that the “damage that Donald Trump is doing to America’s reputation, to the trust and good faith and reliance, our European allies and friends around the world have on us is just impossible to state.”

He called it “extraordinary” to “threaten the invasion of a NATO ally, to seize by force a territory from a democracy.”

“The impact in Europe,” he said, “you cannot calculate how bad this is for us.”

READ MORE: ‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

Trump has ramped up his threats to acquire Greenland, and has refused to commit to not using military force to take control of the semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Bolton added, “if you want to rip up the NATO alliance, if you want to convince every other American ally around the world — Japan, South Korea, Australia — that we can’t be trusted, go ahead and use military force against Denmark in Greenland.”

“Go ahead and threaten your best friends and allies with retaliatory tariffs, because they just won’t give in,” he continued. “This is so counterproductive for the United States that it’s gonna take years to repair the damage that Donald Trump is doing, and none of it will do anything for the security of Greenland or the NATO alliance.”

“Well,” he added, “consider what it means for the United States to invade an ally like Denmark. Is Canada next? Shall we invade Great Britain? How about Spain?”

Bolton asked, “what is it that gives Trump the idea that the only way to deal with one of the friendliest countries in the world toward America, for 250 years, is to threaten military force?”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

Published

on

The rollout for President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace, which has drawn controversy and is facing resistance, does not appear to be going smoothly. The American president wants national leaders who join to donate at least $1 billion within the first year to become a permanent member. According to reports, Trump would be chairman for life, the organization could be filled with authoritarian leaders, and it is being seen as a possible rival to the United Nations.

Already, French President Emmanuel Macron, who appears to be leading the charge against Trump in Europe, reportedly has declined to join.

“The body was originally conceived as part of the U.S. president’s push to create a new governance framework for the shattered Palestinian enclave in the wake of Israel’s devastating two-year offensive against Hamas,” The Financial Times reported.

“The Board of Peace has had a rough landing,” reported Bloomberg News’ UK political editor Alex Wickham, noting that “it’s been criticized by Israel, questioned by Europe and has Russia’s friends celebrating.”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

“World leaders were blindsided and bewildered by Trump’s demand they pay $1 billion for permanent membership, sources say,” Wickham noted. “European allies are working to modify the terms and coordinate a response, sources say. They are trying to persuade Arab leaders to help lobby Trump for changes.”

As chairman, Trump would have the ability to add or remove member nations, veto the board’s decisions and cast tie-breaking votes, and create or dissolve committees.

Critics are blasting Trump’s proposed Board of Peace.

Daily Mail UK columnist Andrew Neil said it will probably be Trump’s “most radical step yet to replace the post-WW2 global order. It will also be quite the dictators’ tea party. Putin, Lukashenko (Belarus tyrant) and the dictator of Kazakhstan have all been asked to join!!”

Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov remarked, “The board of peace stars dictators apparently.”

The Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent, Yaroslav Trofimov, observed, “Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ looks very much like a plan to replace the UN Security Council with an imperial court of vassals in which he is chairman for life, even after leaving the White House, with veto over every decision and the sole right to designate a successor. And a $1 billion fee for aspiring permanent members.”

Former chief White House ethics attorney Richard Painter wrote, “Almost 75,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in this war, and now we are auctioning off seats on a Gaza ‘Board of Peace’. For a Middle East peace policy, this is pathetic.”

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s latest shot across the bow—a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway that critics say carries an implied threat of war over Greenland following his failure to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — has once again prompted calls for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” Trump wrote in his message to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” Trump asked. “There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

Norway is separate from Denmark, which governs Greenland, and the government of Norway does not award the Nobel Peace Prize — as many critics have pointed out. Trump reportedly believes that the Norwegian government “totally” controls who is awarded the coveted prize.

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

“Even by Trump’s standards, this letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,’ as laid out in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution,” wrote Janna Brancolini at The Daily Beast. “Removal under the 25th Amendment might not be politically likely, but it’s a constitutional tool that must be seriously discussed. To do otherwise would be to indulge the dangerous alternative reality that Trump and his supporters are so desperate to construct.”

“The president is, simply put, not a well man. He subsists on a diet of fast food and aspirin, stays up until the wee hours of the night doom-scrolling on social media, and spent Christmas day rage-posting on his Truth Social platform,” Brancolini added. “This is why impeachment is not enough.”

Trump’s letter was so extreme that European officials were circulating a meme of the American president’s letter, written in crayon, as Alternet reported.

But in the U.S., critics including elected officials are calling for the 25th Amendment or other acknowledgment of what they say is the president’s incapacitation.

“These are the ramblings of a man who has lost touch with reality,” wrote U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in response to the Trump letter. “He isn’t ok. He’s degraded significantly in the last year and he’s about to get us into a war with our allies.”

READ MORE: Anti-Gay Bias Surges ‘Sharply’ — Even Among These Least Expected Groups: Report

Invoke the 25th Amendment,” urged U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“I don’t see how you can be a serious person and not find this extremely worrisome,” observed U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI). “He is not stable at all and his reality is warped. He was always a bit like this of course but now he’s 80.”

“This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness,” commented Professor of Medicine and Surgery Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst.

Trump‘s new gigantic temper tantrum over Norway is deep into 25th Amendment territory,” remarked the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson. “Hell, at this point? 25th Admt territory is far in the rearview mirror and we are descending further into madness by the moment.”

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh simply urged, “25th Amendment. Now.”

READ MORE: ‘Unconstitutional Conspiracy’: Judge Blasts Trump Administration Officials

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.