Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., announced Thursday he's drafting articles of impeachment against a federal district judge in Rhode Island for his injunction against the Trump administration's freeze on billions of dollars of federal grants.
Clyde called U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. a "partisan activist" over his order earlier this week demanding the Trump administration's adherence to the temporary restraining order he issued on Jan. 29 pausing the freeze on federal aid.
"He's a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President [Donald] Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending," Clyde said in a post to X, referring to McConnell. "We must end this abusive overreach."
McConnell on Monday asserted that the Trump administration defied the "plain text of the TRO" and ordered the administration to comply with his initial order of Jan. 29 to unfreeze the funds.
"The Defendants received notice of the TRO, the Order is clear and unambiguous, and there are no impediments to the Defendants' compliance with the Order," wrote McConnell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
McConnell ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by 23 Democrat state and District of Columbia attorneys general over the administration's federal funding freeze.
The Trump administration filed an immediate appeal Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, asking for a pause to McConnell's initial order on Jan. 29 while the case is being considered.
The White House pushed back on McConnell's order Monday and did not indicate whether they would comply with his order in the meantime.
"Each executive order will hold up in court because every action of the Trump-Vance administration is completely lawful," White House spokesman Harrison Fields said Monday. "Any legal challenge against it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the will of the American people."
The lawsuit and McConnell's rulings followed Trump's Jan. 28 executive order pausing all federal grants and loans while the administration reviews grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with his priorities and other orders.
McConnell's injunction is 1 of no less than 18 that have been issued pausing Trump's orders and initiatives, according to The New York Times. More than 40 lawsuits have been filed to pause the administration's moves on budget freezes and firings, birthright citizenship, immigration, and transgender rights, among others.
As for Clyde's impeachment efforts, articles would need to be passed by a simple majority in the House to advance the measure to the Senate for a vote to convict McConnell. Only 15 federal judges have been impeached, and eight of those were convicted, Newsweek reported, with the last one occurring in 2010.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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