In a highly unusual move surrounding President Trump’s battle with federal district court judges, Chief Justice Roberts has issued a rare public statement to indirectly, yet clearly, tell the president and his fellow Republicans to cease their public attacks on members of the judiciary.

Specifically, the chief justice says impeachment proceedings against those judges would not be “appropriate,” though several articles of impeachment have already been introduced against members of the Article III branch. 

Mr. Trump and his allies in Congress have been going to war with several district court judges after the jurists blocked a number of recent administration policies related to their mass deportation efforts and the president’s use of impoundment powers. In response to those rulings by the federal judges, House Republicans have introduced several articles of impeachment against a number of judges, all of whom were appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents. 

Chief Justice Roberts makes clear in his statement that he wants it to stop. 

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” the chief justice says. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Just hours before the America’s 17th Chief Justice made his brief statement, the president went on a tirade against Judge James Boasberg, who has been presiding over the case concerning Mr. Trump’s deportation of alleged gang members to an El Salvadoran prison. Judge Boasberg had ruled that the three deportation flights to El Salvador had to be turned around, though the White House reportedly defied that order, arguing that the plans were already out of American territory. 

“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “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!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY.”

The president’s border tsar, Tom Homan, expressed a willingness to openly defy court orders if a judge tried to impede Mr. Trump’s deportation plans, saying he doesn’t “care” what judges have to say about the matter. 

“We’re gonna make this country safe again. I’m proud to be a part of this administration. We’re not stopping,” Mr. Homan told Fox News on Monday. “I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.”

Other conservatives went further, saying the judges who try to block Mr. Trump should not only be impeached, but be put in prison. “My country will not be handed to foreign barbarians and anyone, including judges, who tries to do so should be arrested,” popular Republican radio host Jesse Kelly wrote on X. 

Within hours of Mr. Trump’s Tuesday statement calling for Judge Boasberg to be impeached, a close ally of the president, Congressman Brandon Gill, introduced an article of impeachment against the jurist for “abuse of power.”

“Chief Judge Boasberg, in violation of his oath of office, did knowingly and willfully use his judicial position to advance political gain while interfering with the President’s constitutional prerogatives and enforcement of the rule of law,” the article states, according to a copy shared with the New York Sun. 

Mr. Gill’s impeachment resolution states that Mr. Trump’s powers under the Alien Enemies Act cannot be interfered with by a member of the judiciary. The congressman writes that the president’s “sole and unreviewable discretion”gives him power “to invoke the provisions of the Act, including the power to determine whether an invasion has taken place.”

“This conduct jeopardizes the safety of the nation, represents an abuse of judicial power, and is detrimental to the orderly functioning of the judiciary. Using the powers of his office, Chief Judge Boasberg has attempted to seize power from the Executive Branch and interfere with the will of the American people,” the resolution says. 

So far, five other Republican lawmakers have signed on to Mr. Gill’s impeachment resolution against the judge — Congressman Eli Crane, Congressman Andrew Clyde, Congressman Barry Moore, Congressman Buddy Carter, and Congressman Mike Collins. 

Republicans have also introduced articles of impeachment against Judge Paul Englemayer, who blocked Elon Musk and his DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems, and Judge Amir Ali, who ordered the Trump administration to disburse funds for contractors who had completed work for the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

A fourth impeachment resolution has also been levied against Judge John Deacon Bates, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush. Republicans say Judge Bates violated his oath by ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to briefly restore some public health websites, though that temporary restraining order was later lifted.