Border Policy in the US

Legal systems under pressure – risk of constitutional crisis

The consequences of Donald Trump's decision to overrule a judge when his administration deported 238 Venezuelans are growing. Now there are fears that a constitutional crisis is emerging in the US, several American media outlets report.

It was last Sunday that the Venezuelans were deported from the US, something that was justified by the fact that they belonged to the Tren de Aragua cartel. They managed to do this by invoking a martial law from 1798. The decision was stopped by federal judge James E Boasberg, who said that it was unclear that it was legal, something that the administration ignored.

Yesterday the conflict escalated further when government lawyers demanded that Judge Boasberg be removed, reports the Washington Post. For several weeks now, the administration has questioned the courts' right to limit the president, according to the newspaper.

Experts now believe that the legal system in the United States is being put under severe pressure. The conflict reached its climax yesterday when Boasberg was questioned in Washington. Now the fight between the White House and the courts risks leading to a constitutional crisis, writes the New York Times.

Republicans want to impeach the judge

Federal judge James Boasberg ordered the plane with migrants flying to El Salvador to turn around and for that he should be impeached.

This is stated by Republican congressman Brandon Gill.

“I will file an impeachment motion against activist judge James Boasberg this week,” Gill writes on X.

Elon Musk has commented on the move as “necessary” and now President Donald Trump has also weighed in.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump writes that Boasberg is a “radical leftist lunatic” who did not win the presidential election but Trump did.

“This judge, like many of the rogue judges I am forced to face, should be IMPEACHED,” Trump wrote.

Presidents, ministers, and judges can be impeached in the United States. The House of Representatives can impeach by a vote, and then the Senate holds the actual trial and votes on guilt.

US Supreme Court Chief Justice Rebukes Trump: “Impeachment Not Appropriate Response”

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a statement that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to a disagreement over a legal decision” and that this order has prevailed for over two centuries, reports the AP.

Republican Congressman Brandon Gill has said he will file an impeachment motion against the federal judge who ordered the plane with migrants flying to El Salvador to turn around.

Gill has also received support from President Donald Trump.

“This judge, like many of the rogue judges I am forced to face, should be IMPEACHED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Tuesday.

AP describes Trump's threat and Roberts' response as an "extraordinary display of a conflict between the US executive and judicial branches".

John Roberts was nominated by Republican George W. Bush and has been Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court since 2005. He is often described as a conservative, writes TT.