U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked President Donald Trump on Tuesday for suggesting the way to resolve a court dispute was by impeaching the judge.
In a rare statement, Roberts wrote: "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."
Roberts' statement followed Trump's call in a social media post on Tuesday for the impeachment of a federal judge.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration on Saturday to halt the removal of alleged Venezuelan gang members, which Trump has argued is authorized by an 18th-century law historically used only in wartime.
"I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" Trump wrote.
The rebuke by Roberts, a conservative who was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush, against Trump echoes one from 2018, when Roberts defended the judiciary's independence after persistent attacks by Trump during his first term in office.
"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement at the time.
"What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for," Roberts added.
Trump, who has appointed three of the justices to the nine-member court himself, had called a judge who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an "Obama judge."
DEPORTATION CASE AT ISSUE
Trump on March 15 asserted his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 authorized his administration to bypass normal immigration processes to carry out the immediate removal of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang he claimed to be closely aligned with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The 18th century law, which gives presidents the wartime authority to deport non-citizens whose primary allegiance is to a foreign power, had only been invoked three times: during the War of 1812, World War One and most recently World War Two, when it was used to justify the mass internment of people of Japanese, German and Italian descent.
A group of Venezuelan men in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities sued on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated on March 15 seeking to block the deportations. They argued, among other things, that Trump's order exceeded his power because the 1798 law authorizes removals only when war has been declared or the United States has been invaded by a "foreign nation or government."
That same day, Boasberg ordered the administration to temporarily halt the removals, including by ordering planes carrying hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador to turn around.
The administration did not return two planes already in the air carrying alleged Tren de Aragua members, prompting accusations that Trump's administration had defied the court order.
Justice Department lawyers representing the Trump administration wrote that two flights had departed before the judge's written order was issued, and that spoken orders the judge had issued in court before the written notice hit the docket were not enforceable.
