Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dropped a bomb during a Congressional hearing when he brutally called out rogue judges like James Boasberg and warned that when a judge shows a “record of prejudice” against Donald Trump, like Boasberg, the Chief Justice of the United States should intervene.
For context, during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on April 1, 2025, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about Judge James Boasberg, who has come under fire for using federal injunctions to attempt to limit the Trump Administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants. Serving as a Congressional witness, Gingrich issued a stern warning to judges like Boasberg, saying that the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, should remove Judge Boasberg from office.
During the hearing, Rep. Jordan asked Gingrich if he believed that Judge Boasberg should “recuse himself” from future cases after ordering illegal immigrants to be returned to the U.S. after the Trump administration had them deported. In response, Gingrich said, “I think this is a classic case where the Chief Justice should intervene.”
Continuing, Gingrich said that Judge Boasberg had a “blatant, continuing record of prejudice,” which Gingrich argued should disqualify him, saying, “That judge should not be put in charge of a case.” However, the former House speaker clarified, “I’m not for going through the whole process of [impeaching Boasberg] because I think at a practical level it’s not possible.”
However, Gingrich went on to say that he supported “using the potential capacity of the Congress to simply defund, which Jefferson did, and which clearly is possible.” He added that he would qualify the acts of Judge Boasberg and other rogue judges as a “coup.”
Moreover, the former House speaker told Rep. Jordan that Judge Boasberg and his ilk were “a small group of people who believe that they have the right to override the American people and do whatever they want, cooperating with people who clearly were behaving illegally.”
Building on his point, Gingrich said that one of the “great tragedies of the last six or eight years” was the Judicial Branch putting limitations on other arms of the government, saying, “It’s the government that has been illegal. It’s the FBI that has been illegal. And how can you possibly have the rule of law when people in charge of the law are acting illegally?” Later, Gingrich added that getting the Chief Justice involved in dealing with Judge Boasberg would send a clear message that “he had better get out of lecturing the Congress and get into managing the judiciary, or he’s going to be facing a real crisis of the system and a real erosion of judicial authority.”
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Furthermore, the hearing took place shortly after several Republican congressmen introduced a resolution on March 18, 2025, that called for the impeachment of Judge Boasberg, stating that the judge was “in violation of his oath of office” and “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.”
Watch a clip from the hearing:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video