Even Margaret Brennan probably knows that an activist district judge in a Rhode Island backwater can't stop a president from conducting his Article II powers. And so, this time, congressional Republicans aren't falling for black robe tricknology and are moving to impeach two judges whose hackneyed and conflicted rulings have temporarily stopped President Trump's agenda.
Trump has vowed to obey their rulings until these decisions are inevitably overturned, if not by garden-variety federal appeals courts, then by the U.S. Supreme Court. Someday.
In an effort to stop the judicial clown show, the GOP wants to make a point that an activist Democrat judge who can't write an understandable order has no business on the federal bench. It also wants to make the point that a judge who helps oversee his own NGO shouldn't be making decisions about President Trump halting payments to NGOs. Seems reasonable.
GOP congressional representatives have made moves to impeach two judges who ruled to halt President Donald Trump's agenda. The overseers of this judicial interference are Norm Eisen, the man who brought you the Letitia James New York lawfare show that got boffo finger snaps by the Broadway left, and Andrew Weissmann, who was in charge of the baseless Russia! Russia! Russia! lawfare against Trump. Both sit on the MSNBC court of clowns.
Matt's excellent column about this "judicial oligarchy," notes that, "U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer... has barred members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and even the Treasury secretary from accessing crucial payment and data systems—another blatant example of the judiciary eroding executive authority on behalf of the resistance."
Recommended: Margaret, Everyone in This Country Is Now Dumber for Having Listened to You
Engelmayer's decision isn't a crazy judicial opinion or anything.
Legal analyst Margot Cleveland says that even before one even gets to Judge Engelmayer's poorly reasoned temporary restraining order, the case brought by 14 Democrat state attorneys general has a "fatal flaw."
By her reckoning, the plaintiffs "utterly lack standing to challenge DOGE and the Treasury Department’s decision to grant read-only access to select members of that executive agency’s team. And without standing, there is no basis to bring a lawsuit, much less to justify the TRO," she told Fox News Digital. Gee, that seems like it might be a problem.
See Murthy v. Missouri for how important "standing" is.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) will introduce articles of impeachment against Engelmayer.
Last night, I joined @mattgaetz to discuss articles of impeachment filed against partisan judges by @Rep_Clyde and myself.
— Rep. Eli Crane (@RepEliCrane) February 13, 2025
We also reviewed the current state of the reconciliation process.@POTUS is dismantling the administrative state, and Congress needs to back him up. pic.twitter.com/fOLwuOEKbx
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) is bringing impeachment charges against Rhode Island Federal District Court Judge John McConnell, who ruled on a case involving cutting spending.
I’m drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) February 12, 2025
He’s a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump’s funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending.
We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned. https://t.co/ARp7KBjK9u
It turns out that the Obama-appointed judge's Democrat activist record is in good standing with stints at the morally bankrupt Planned Parenthood and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Plus, and this is controlling in this argument, the good judge ran his own NGO called Crossroads Rhode Island. He now sits on its board of directors where they count all the money from the feds.
America First Legal counted it too. The NGO raked in $128 million over the past 18 years.
🚨NEW: Judge McConnell, the federal judge blocking Trump’s spending freeze, has been on the board of Crossroads Rhode Island for 18 years — a nonprofit that has taken $128M in government funding during that time.
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) February 17, 2025
Now, after his ruling to keep federal funds flowing, his nonprofit… https://t.co/8nOvMvoALA
Apparently, this obvious conflict of interest wasn't divulged by the judge.
Related: Chuck Schumer Might Legally Reap the 'Whirlwind' for His Threats Against Supreme Court Justices
Elon Musk said he thought that the judge should be impeached too.
If accurate, these are grounds for impeachment of the judge https://t.co/iwcM4p6h4x
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025
Apropos of everything, the Duke University Judicial Institute is insinuating itself into the fray, coming to the defense of judges due to "unwarranted threats and attacks." The director, Paul Grimm, says "Judge Engelmayer has quickly become a target of unfair, unwarranted threats and attacks lobbed via social media and news outlets across the country."
It goes without saying that Americans shouldn't threaten or attack judges.
It also goes without saying that this organization never stood up for the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices when their lives were threatened by an assassin, doxxing by "Ruth Sent Us," or the leak of the draft Dobbs decision which spawned the riotous behavior. It also never condemned Senator Chuck Schumer for his speech on the Supreme Court steps threatening they'd reap the whirlwind if they overturned Roe v. Wade.
The sides have been chosen. It's time to act. Your move, Republican Congress.
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