Senator Schmitt Calls for the Impeachment, Senate Trial of Judge Boasberg During Judiciary Hearing

'Once the House Impeaches, We Should Hold the Trial and Hold Judge Boasberg Accountable'

WASHINGTON - Today, during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts oversight hearing, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) once again called for the House of Representatives to impeach Judge Boasberg and laid out the case for why the Senate should hold a trial to hold him accountable for abusing his judicial authority to target the Trump administration, sitting Republican Senators, and conservative organizations.

Watch Senator Schmitt's full line of questions HERE

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for calling today's very important hearing. I think this is a very important issue to the country, and I want to focus specifically on […] Judge Boasberg, who is the embodiment of a rogue Judge, which I think is the subject of this hearing. I have a few questions - of course, I've called for his impeachment - and I want to go use this time to sort of explain why," Senator Schmitt said during his opening remarks.

Senator Schmitt on Rogue Judges, Calls for Boasberg's Impeachment, Senate Trial:

Senator Schmitt: "Mr. Chamberlain, why do federal Judges wear black robes?"

Will Chamberlain, Senior Counsel, Article III Project: "I actually don't know the answer that."

Senator Schmitt: "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 court room?"

Mr. Chamberlain: "I would assume they're black."

Senator Schmitt: "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?"

Mr. Chamberlain: [MIC WAS NOT TURNED ON]

Senator Schmitt: "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. 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 fear monger 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."

Senator Schmitt: "Professor Luther, it's good to see you again. I appreciate your testimony. You're an expert on the American judiciary and judicial power. Article III states that Judges should hold their offices during 'good behavior'. If a Judge then steers a case involving that litigant from another Judge to himself by reassigning that case outside of normal procedure, is that good behavior or abuse of the judicial process?"

Rob Luther, Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University: "That is not good behavior. There's surely an internal operating rule on how cases are assigned and to violate it would be violation of his judicial duty."

Senator Schmitt: "If a Judge were aware of a federal statute prohibiting him from issuing a certain type of order and then issues that prohibited order - is that good behavior or abuse of judicial power?"

Mr. Luther: "I think that's a violation of the judicial oath, so abuse of judicial power."

Senator Schmitt: "On the flip side, if that Judge were unaware of the statute, the facts of the case, or the parties being subject to the prohibited order, yet granted the order anyways - is that good behavior or a violation of the Article III duty in an abuse of judicial power?

Mr. Luther: "Well, if he didn't know about the rule, that's maybe a little vaguer. But you know, we expect our federal Judges to be aware of the law, just like we expect citizens to be aware of the law, and we hold them accountable, even if they weren't. So, in that case, it would probably be a violation of judicial duty.

Senator Schmitt: "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."

Background:

• On November 17, 2025, Senator Schmitt wrote to D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan calling for the administrative suspension of Chief Judge James Boasberg while Congress considers Articles of Impeachment.

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