Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement Tuesday after President Donald Trump suggested the way to resolve a court dispute over deportations was by impeaching the judge who ruled against the president.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement issued by the court. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
Roberts' statement followed Trump's call in a social media post on Tuesday for the impeachment of Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who ordered the administration on Saturday to halt the removal of alleged Venezuelan gang members, which Trump has argued is authorized by an 18th-century law historically used only in wartime.
"I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!" Trump wrote.
Trump on March 15 asserted his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 authorized his administration to bypass normal immigration processes to carry out the immediate removal of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang he claimed to be closely aligned with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The 18th century law, which gives presidents the wartime authority to deport non-citizens whose primary allegiance is to a foreign power, had only been invoked three times: during the War of 1812, during World War I and most recently during World War II, when it was used to justify the mass internment of people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent.
A group of Venezuelan men in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities sued on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated on March 15 seeking to block the deportations. They argued, among other things, that Trump's order exceeded his power because the 1798 law authorizes removals only when war has been declared or the United States has been invaded by a "foreign nation or government."