(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
GOP lawmaker moves to impeach judge who blocked DOGE from Treasury data [1]
['Benjamin S. Weiss']
Date: 2025-02
Republicans and Elon Musk accused Southern District of New York Judge Paul Engelmayer of political bias after he stopped Department of Government Efficiency staffers from accessing the Treasury Department’s payments system.
WASHINGTON (CN) — House Republicans, taking a cue from Elon Musk, formally moved to impeach the federal judge responsible for halting the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to access the Treasury Department system for government payments.
In Republicans’ crosshairs is Southern District of New York Judge Paul Engelmayer, who this month issued an order keeping Musk’s team out of the federal payments system. But it’s unclear whether this move, aimed at ousting a judge with a lifetime appointment, has the political momentum it needs to clear the high hurdle of impeachment.
Regardless, the articles of impeachment against Engelmayer, filed Tuesday by Wisconsin Representative Derrick Van Orden but published online Wednesday, represent the most extreme congressional action yet targeting the federal judiciary.
It’s an effort that comes after weeks of complaints from the White House, Musk and Republican lawmakers that federal judges — who have slapped guardrails on several of the administration’s more constitutionally questionable executive orders — are politically biased against the president.
Musk, one of Trump’s closest advisers, has suggested on more than one occasion that judges ruling against the White House should be impeached.
“Momentum is growing rapidly to impeach activist judges who repeatedly fail to follow the law,” the billionaire wrote in a Feb. 15 post on X.
In his articles of impeachment against Engelmayer, Van Orden argued the Barack Obama appointee had demonstrated “clear bias and prejudice against the president” and Americans who voted for him by issuing the order temporarily barring administration staff from Treasury Department systems.
“Judge Paul Engelmayer has abused his judicial office by using his authority to further personal or political interests, contrary to the constitutional responsibility to apply the law impartially, including the improper handling of this case in a manner that demonstrates favoritism or undue influence, undermining the fundamental principles of justice,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
In his Feb. 8 order, Engelmayer agreed with more than a dozen state attorneys general, who argued that allowing Musk’s government efficiency outfit unilateral access to government payment systems could risk the disclosure of sensitive or confidential information, and that it could make those systems vulnerable to hacking.
He added the states had shown “a likelihood of success” in their claims that the White House’s effort violated the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional separation of powers doctrine.
Federal judges, though appointed for life by the president, can be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors as outlined in the Constitution.
The process for removing a federal judge follows a similar process to impeaching a president — articles of impeachment must pass a simple majority vote in the House, after which the Senate will hold a trial to consider removing the offending jurist. The upper chamber must achieve a two-thirds majority to convict.
While the Republican-controlled House, which has largely backed the Trump administration and Musk’s push to unilaterally audit the federal government, may be able to pass articles of impeachment against Engelmayer, it’s unclear whether such an effort would be able to clear the Senate.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate’s president pro tempore, refused say whether he thought the proposed judicial impeachment had any merit.
“I can’t make a decision on that because I’m not in the House,” Grassley said Tuesday. “But even if they did impeach somebody, I wouldn’t want to talk about it, because I’m a juror and I’ve got to have an impartial view.”
Carl Tobias, chair of the University of Richmond School of Law, slammed Van Orden’s attempt to remove Engelmayer.
“Representative Van Orden is wasting taxpayer’s money with his frivolous impeachment resolution aimed at Judge Engelmayer,” Tobias told Courthouse News, adding that impeachment has only been used against federal judges 15 times in U.S. history — and that only eight have resulted in convictions.
“Allegedly incorrect decisions are not grounds for impeachment,” he said.
Van Orden’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Arizona Representative Eli Crane published similar articles against Engelmayer on Tuesday, writing on X that he would file them Friday. "Good," Musk replied to the lawmaker.
Engelmayer, confirmed to the bench in 2011, was hardly a partisan nominee. The Senate voted 98-0 to approve him to the Southern District of New York, and no Republicans attended his Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.
During his tenure on the federal bench, Engelmayer ruled against a 2019 rule issued by the first Trump administration which defined legal protections against religious discrimination for federally funded health care services.
Engelmayer isn’t the only federal judge Musk and Republicans have directed their ire at in recent weeks. Lawmakers have also called to impeach John McConnell, another Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, after he issued a similar order temporarily halting the White House’s freeze on federal funding.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.courthousenews.com/gop-lawmaker-moves-to-impeach-judge-who-blocked-doge-from-treasury-data/
Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/
