Back in late February of 2025, in an important but generally underreported-on incident, Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) launched an impeachment effort against a rogue judge, District Court Judge John Bates, for trying to illegally nullify one of President Trump’s important and clearly legal executive orders. The impeachment effort highlighted the fight between MAGA and the woke-occupied judiciary, and the willingness of some Republicans to fight back.
As background, the fight at issue was between the Trump Administration and Judge Bates over whether the president could order a slew of agencies and departments to stop pushing what Republicans saw as “LGBTQ propaganda” on their websites. Particularly, Republicans contended the order was perfectly legal and unobjectionable, while Judge Bates and the left framed it as the height of irresponsibility.
In response to Judge Bates trying to nullify the executive order, Rep. Ogles launched an impeachment effort. Explaining the background in a press release, his office said, “Congressman Andy Ogles introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge John Bates for high crimes and misdemeanors. Judge Bates is attempting to force the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore radical LGBTQ propaganda on taxpayer-funded websites.”
Continuing, the press release explained what the judge was trying to do with his nullification of the executive order, explaining, “His decision nullifies Executive Order 14168, an action from the President removing and restricting any of this content from being published on government websites.”
Commenting on the matter himself, Rep. Ogles explained that what the judge was trying to push was both “repugnant” and at odds with the law, as the president has clear authority here and attempts to claim otherwise are clear “weaponization” of the bench, saying, “Requiring taxpayer funds to disseminate information endorsing the castration of children is repugnant. D.C. U.S. District Court Judge John Bates’s order demonstrates a purposeful disregard for President Trump’s authority, serial incompetence, and blatant weaponization of his bench.”
Continuing, the congressman explained that the judge was acting like a political operative rather than a fair and neutral arbiter of the law, saying, “In short, Judge Bates joins the ranks of hundreds of political activists disobeying their oaths to score political points. The continued socialization of this grave moral evil necessitates immediate Congressional action against those promoting it.”
Concluding, Rep. Ogles noted that it was well within his constitutional power as a member of Congress to begin the impeachment process, saying, “America’s founders gave Congress the authority to impeach judges to defend the will of the people. My articles will do just that. It is unacceptable for rogue judges to implicate taxpayers in woke LGBTQ propaganda and the irreversible destruction of children’s bodies.”
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Noting much the same thing in an awesome, short video released on X around the same time, Rep. Ogles said, “Judge John Bates is defying a Trump order, which is why I’m impeaching him. If you want to be a rogue, woke activist judge, well, you can be. But we have the right per the Constitution to impeach you.”
Watch Rep. Ogles here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video