Republican lawmakers are conflicted over how to respond to President Trump’s confrontational standoff with the federal judiciary, which drew a rare public rebuke Tuesday from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Trump and his allies are directing their attacks more frequently against judges who threaten to slow or block the president’s ambitious agenda, putting GOP lawmakers in an uncomfortable spot.
Republican officeholders are leery of criticizing Trump for fear of becoming the target of his wrath or a primary challenge, yet privately they worry about the president’s efforts to expand his executive power, which could reverberate far into the future.
While a few Republican senators and House members have publicly cheered the Trump administration in its battle with a federal judge who ordered it to halt the deportation of several hundred Venezuelans to El Salvador, many more are keeping quiet.
“Republicans, by and large, will support Trump publicly because of the situation, we’re dealing with Venezuelan gang members and most Americans agree they should have been deported,” a senior Republican strategist said of the reaction to the Trump administration going forward with a deportation flights despite an order by a federal judge to stop them.
“Privately, most congressional Republicans will think this is really going right up to the line on having a constitutional crisis and that situations like this need to be avoided in the future,” the strategist added. “They do believe in due process.
“There will be future situations where hearings are necessary and continuing to go against judicial rulings will be politically precarious for Trump,” the strategist warned, noting that Trump’s direct challenge to federal judge’s authority caught many lawmakers off guard Tuesday.
Republican lawmakers have urged Trump to heed the federal court rulings he disagrees with and to challenge them in the appeals process instead of flouting court orders.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last month that “the White House should comply with court rulings,” voicing a concern shared by a number of GOP lawmakers.
“We have a judicial system. If you don’t like the ruling, you can appeal the ruling and you can follow that through. But we are a nation of laws, and it is not necessarily for you or I to be the final arbiter here. This is why we entrust the judiciary with this responsibility,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said the courts have a “valid role and need to be listened to.”
They and many other GOP lawmakers didn’t address the issue Tuesday after Trump called for the impeachment of Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court of the District of Columbia, who ordered the halting of flights carrying people to El Salvador.
Trump called the judge, who was appointed to his seat by former President Obama, “a troublemaker and agitator.”
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be impeached!!” he declared on Truth Social, suggesting that many the deportees were “VICIOUS, VIOLENT AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS.”
That statement drew pushback from Roberts, who declared that threatening to impeach the judge over a legal disagreement is “inappropriate.”
The Trump administration sought to deport the migrants under the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798, a seldom cited law that previously has been invoked during times of war.
Trump’s call for impeaching Boasberg was immediately supported by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), who introduced a resolution to impeach Boasberg.
The idea of impeaching federal judges who rule against Trump was not popular with Senate Republicans when tech billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump’s closest advisors, floated it last month.
“Wrong, wrong, wrong. Get him out of the White House. Get him out, the sooner the better,” one GOP senator told The Hill last month.
“Every day that he’s there, he seems more destructive,” the source said of Musk.
The Republican strategist warned that Trump’s battle with Republican-appointed jurists such as Roberts is a bad look for the president, politically.
“Trump is once again breaking norms,” the strategist said. “It does raise the visibility of [the issue] and I don’t think it intimidates the judges, either.
“If power ends up in a Democratic White House and [a Democratic president] ignores judicial rulings, Republicans will be reminded of his situation. Hopefully, this is an anomaly,” the source added. “Behind the scenes, they believe in an independent judiciary and they don’t want Trump messing with it.”
Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said Trump’s attack on the judge puts Republican lawmakers in a difficult position.
“When you arbitrarily try to cancel the rule of law, which is what Trump is trying to do, and leave by the edict of an individual, whether he is president or not, you’re creating almost a banana republic-type of event,” he warned.
“The fact that members of the Republican Party would introduce articles of impeachment [against the judge] is an inexcusable abrogation of their obligation as members of the Congress,” he said.
“How does it affect Republicans? Significantly. Because even though senior Republicans in the Senate may disagree and hopefully would disagree strongly, it’s the president who’s head of the party and is defining the party,” Gregg warned. “If you’re running as a Republican against a Democrat, or anybody else, you’re going to be painted with the brush that you don’t think the rule of law should apply in America anymore.”
The Justice Department on Tuesday complied with Boasberg’s order for sworn statements acknowledging that the deported Venezuelan migrants, allegedly members of the Tren de Aragua gang, arrived in El Salvador after the judge issued verbal and written orders to stop the deportations.
The judge asked Justice Department officials to explain why two deportation flights continued on from Honduras to El Salvador after he issued his orders.
The Trump administration’s lawyers argued on Monday that Boasberg’s order wasn’t violated because the judge does not have the jurisdiction to overrule the president’s powers as commander in chief.
Two prominent Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee rallied to Trump’s defense.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Sunday accused Boasberg of “unilaterally deciding policy for the whole country” and vowed to investigate.
“This time to benefit foreign gang members,” he posted on X, referring to the court order. “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed toward a constitutional crisis.
“Senate Judiciary Cmte taking action,” he added.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), another member of the Judiciary Committee, posted on X that “Democrats would rather defend known terrorists and cartel gangsters than let President Trump do his job of keeping our country safe.”
