‘Not an appropriate response’: US Chief Justice rebukes Trump’s call to impeach ‘lunatic’ judge James Boasberg

US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made a rare public statement following remarks from President Donald Trump, who suggested that a federal judge should be impeached. The judge in question had attempted to block Trump's administration from deporting suspected Venezuelan gang members.

Without directly mentioning Trump, Roberts stressed the long-standing principle that impeachment should not be used as a response to disagreements over judicial rulings.

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," he stated.

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Earlier, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (March 18) called for the impeachment of James Boasberg, the chief federal judge in Washington,DC,after he ordered deportation flights carrying suspected Venezuelan gang members to be turned back.

"This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He also took aim at former President Barack Obama, who appointed Boasberg, stating, "This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY."

What happened?

Trump’s outrage comes after his administration invoked an 18th-century law for the first time since World War II to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.

On Saturday, a total of 261 Venezuelans, including suspected gang members, were deported. However, before the operation could be completed, a federal court intervened to halt the deportations. By that time, two planes carrying the migrants had already departed.

White House officials later argued in court that they had not defied the judge’s ruling. They claimed that because Boasberg’s order was given orally and not in writing, it was not legally binding. Additionally, they maintained that the flights had already taken off when the order was issued.

During a hearing on Monday, Boasberg pushed back, saying he had clearly instructed the government to reverse course. Addressing Department of Justice lawyers, he asked, "You're saying that you felt you could disregard it because it wasn't in a written order?"

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt defended the deportations, stating on Sunday, "A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft… full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil."

(With inputs from agencies)