By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -Republican lawmakers moved on Monday to have two judges impeached as the White House and its allies continue ramping up attacks on members of the judiciary for imposing roadblocks on U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping assertions of power.
U.S. Representatives Andrew Clyde and Andy Ogles announced they had filed separate resolutions in the House of Representatives seeking to have U.S. District Judges John McConnell in Rhode Island and Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, removed from office.
They did so despite long-shot odds of ever securing the conviction in the U.S. Senate of either judge. They join a list of six jurists who have ruled against Trump and are facing impeachment resolutions in the House.
The U.S. Constitution provides that the grounds for impeachment are treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
To remove a judge from office, the House must pass articles of impeachment by a simple majority vote and then the Senate must vote by at least a two-thirds majority to convict the judge. Republicans control both chambers of Congress but do not have a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, in a rare statement, said last week after Trump called for a judge’s removal that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” which can be appealed.
Clyde filed his resolution against McConnell after the judge, at the urging of Democratic state attorneys general, issued an injunction this month barring the administration from implementing a sweeping pause on spending on federal grants and loans.
The resolution alleged McConnell “politicized and weaponized his judicial position” and should have recused himself because he has sat on the board of a local housing and homeless services nonprofit whose funding could be impacted.
McConnell declined to comment.
Ogles’ resolution against Chuang was filed after the judge blocked Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency last week from taking further steps to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying their efforts likely violated the U.S. Constitution.
The resolution argues Chuang committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors by issuing the decision, which was a “patent violation of the separation of powers – which prevents the President from responding to threats to our national security posed by USAID employees.”
Chuang did not respond to a request for comment. Democratic President Barack Obama appointed both Chuang and McConnell.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Richard Chang)
