The White House on Wednesday accused federal judges of overstepping their authority after a series of legal setbacks for US President Donald Trump’s administration, including a ruling that blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed there was a “concerted effort by the far left” to install judges acting as “partisan activists” against the Republican-led government.
“Not only are they usurping the will of the president and the chief executive of our country, but they are undermining the will of the American public,” Leavitt said during a press briefing.
One of the rulings that drew particular criticism was issued by district judge James Boasberg, who over the weekend ordered the suspension of deportation flights that the administration had carried out under a rarely used wartime law. The Trump administration had invoked the centuries-old legislation to justify the mass deportation of undocumented Venezuelan migrants, particularly gang members.
Leavitt blasted Boasberg as an “activist judge” and a “Democrat activist” attempting to interfere with the president’s authority.
Trump himself escalated the attacks, calling for Boasberg’s impeachment on Tuesday. He labelled the judge a “Radical Left Lunatic,” accusing him of being a “troublemaker and agitator” who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The remarks drew a rare rebuke from supreme court chief justice John Roberts, who reminded Trump that “for more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Despite the pushback, Trump continued his criticism on his Truth Social platform, warning that judicial interference in executive decisions posed a serious threat to the country.
“If a president doesn’t have the right to throw murderers and other criminals out of our country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our country is in very big trouble and destined to fail!” he wrote on Wednesday.
The legal challenges against Trump‘s administration have been mounting. A judge on Tuesday halted the shutdown of the main US aid agency, which had been ordered by Elon Musk’s newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE). Another ruling blocked the administration’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, citing constitutional protections of equality.
Musk, a key Trump ally, also condemned the judiciary, calling the recent decisions a “judicial coup” in a series of posts on his social media platform, X.
