By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday that many of the judges who have recently ruled against the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration were unable to be impartial and needed to be removed.
“Many judges need to be removed,” Bondi said during an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” show. “These judges obviously cannot be impartial. They cannot be objective.”
Her comments come amid a growing conflict between the White and the federal judiciary – a branch of government created to check executive and congressional power. Federal judges are appointed for life under the Constitution to ensure their independence.
“They are district judges trying to control our entire country, our entire country, and they are trying to obstruct Donald Trump’s agenda,” she said.
She named three U.S. district judges that have temporarily blocked Trump administration policies including Ana Reyes, James Boasberg and Beryl Howell.
Bondi added that Boasberg, who ordered the administration to temporarily stop invoking wartime powers to deport migrants, should not be on any case involving the administration.
Trump had previously called for Boasberg’s impeachment, provoking a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.
The U.S. Constitution provides that the grounds for impeachment are treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. To remove a judge from office, the House must pass articles of impeachment by a simple majority vote and then the Senate must vote by at least a two-thirds majority to convict the judge.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Ross Colvin and Jamie Freed)
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