U.S. Senate Republicans met for a hearing regarding rogue judges on January 7, 2026, and in it they made the case that GOP House members should push forward impeachment articles against “rogue” judges, after President Donald Trump and many of his allies had made calls to remove those judges from the bench who had seemingly placed partisan politics above the rule of law.
Democrats wasted no time in lambasting the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority for holding the hearing, which had been postponed twice. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) claimed that the hearing was part of an “effort to try to intimidate the judiciary into not ruling against the Trump administration,” a belief shared among many of his colleagues.
“Impeachment isn’t a remedy for judges getting decisions wrong,” the Rhode Island Democrat went on to say. “Appeal is the remedy for that, as the chief justice has stated.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is the head of the panel’s subcommittee on courts, stated that judges could be impeached and removed for “the subtle subversions that may violate no criminal statute and yet strike at the very architecture of our republic.”
According to U.S. News, Cruz honed in on two out of the eight judges who are currently facing impeachment articles: Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in D.C., and U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Texas Senator made the case that these two should be added to a list of 15 judges who have been impeached by the House, most of whom faced accusations of ethical and criminal misconduct.
A total of 8 out of those 15 judges were convicted by the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote in order to convict. Several Republican members of the House sought to impeach Judge Boasberg after he ruled to block the administration from using wartime powers to boot Venezuelan illegal aliens from the country. Twenty others signed a second impeachment resolution that was filed against Boasberg in November 2025 over improperly ordering phone carriers not to disclose records for 10 senators and one House member were sought for while Special Counsel Jack Smith investigated the 2020 election loss of President Trump.
Judge Boardman also faces an impeachment resolution which was signed by 17 House Republicans, alleging that she abused her power by giving an “indefensibly light” eight-year prison sentence to a California resident who confessed to an assassination attempt on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh back in 2022. What has angered many Republicans in Congress is that neither of these impeachment articles have been advanced since they were originally filed.
Sen. Cruz went on to say during the hearing that he sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, encouraging him to advance the articles filed against Boasberg and Boardman, both of whom were invited to give testimony at the hearing, but said no to the offer. Sen. Eric Schmitt was given an opportunity to question Will Chamberlain, the senior counsel for the Article III Project, where he brought up the fact that judges wear black to be impartial and not reflect their own personally held political views.
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“Mr. Chamberlain, why do federal judges wear black robes?” Schmitt asked. “I actually don’t know the answer to that,” Chamberlain replied. “Well, it’s to show impartiality, right? They’re certainly not wearing red jerseys or blue jerseys. They wear them to symbolize the impartiality that’s supposed to come with that very important commission. Do you know what color robes Judge Boasberg wears in the courtroom?” Schmitt followed up.
“I would assume they’re black,” Chamberlain said. “Well, it turns out, it’s probably blue. And I’m going to explain why. I’d like to enter into the record, Mr. Chairman, the Department of Justice July 28 Judicial Misconduct Complaint against Judge Boasberg, which reads as follows: ‘On March 11, 2025, Judge Boasberg attended a session at the Judicial Conference of the United States where they went. While there, Judge Boasberg attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges by straying from the traditional topics to expand on his belief that the Trump administration would ‘disregard rulings of federal courts’, and ‘trigger a constitutional crisis’. This was on March 11. What happened on March 15, Mr. Chamberlain, later that week?” The senator asked.
“That’s right, Judge Boasberg issued the ‘turn the planes around’ order just a few days after that. Within the next week, Judge Boasberg was acting on his preconceived belief that the Trump administration would not follow court orders. Although he lacked authority to do so, he issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from removing violent Tren de Aragua terrorists, which the Supreme Court, by the way, summarily vacated shortly thereafter. Not only that, [Judge Boasberg] forced his way onto the case in the dead of night, while he’s on vacation. Judge Boasberg abused his power as Chief Judge to force himself onto that case. Judge Boasberg doesn’t Judge cases involving President Trump impartially. He has made it clear, time and time again, in his rulings and his comments that he, instead of wearing that black robe, wears, in fact, a blue jersey,” Schmitt explained.
“He has continually abused the power as Chief Judge in five separate ways: (1) Forcing himself onto hot button cases; (2) Abusing his power in the Judicial Conference to fearmonger to the Judiciary about the specter of a nonexistent constitutional crisis; (3) Rubber-stamped gag orders and subpoenas against U.S. Senators; (4) Trying to hold DOJ lawyers in contempt for a case the Supreme Court said he had no jurisdiction over; (5) He sits on the Circuit Judicial Council, which would be able to overturn any disciplinary action taken against him. Interestingly, Article III has not policed itself. That’s the reality. We have to be able to check a rogue Judge through the impeachment process, and I don’t say that lightly. The House [of Representatives] must exercise that power,” he added.
Schmitt closed out his time by noting that Chief Justice John Roberts said that you don’t boot judges that you disagree with, but seeking to rectify the situation by overturning their rulings through the appeal process. However, he then explained that the situation with Judge Boasberg is different and requires impeachment. “Just want to close. Chief Justice Roberts said, ‘you don’t impeach Judges you disagree with, you get them overturned on appeal’. With Judge Boasberg, this is not about disagreeing with some interpretation of the law. Judge Boasberg has abused his role as Chief Judge, which are non-appealable ministerial acts. He is a rogue Judge. The House should vote to impeach Judge Boasberg based on the articles they have before them. Once the House impeaches, we should hold the trial and hold Judge Boasberg accountable.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video