Over at The Dispatch, I have a new piece on the impeachment of federal judges. In a Truth social post, President Donald Trump did what no sitting president has done before, publicly called for the impeachment of a federal judge. In doing so, he stoked the flames of MAGA world which, since the start of President Trump's second term, has become very unhappy with the third branch of government. People of influence and power are now regularly floating extreme solutions to Trump's judicial problem, and impeachment is just one of the options apparently on the table.
As a practical matter impeachment is not easy, as Trump's own first term of office amply demonstrated. As a matter of constitutional principle, the abuse of power by a federal judge might well justify impeachment and removal, but identifying such abuses of powers is likely to be difficult and controversial. There are circumstances when impeaching a federal officer in the House might be a reasonable move even when conviction in the Senate is unlikely, but the House should think carefully about what they are trying to accomplish and how they can best accomplish it before embarking on any impeachment effort.
From the piece:
