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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he will support a motion to impeach the judges who are blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda on Wednesday.
While it’s not something Johnson has said publicly, his support comes after House GOP leaders showed opposition to the measure last year. At the time, leaders argued that prosecutions were not an effective punishment for what Republicans widely viewed as activist judges who tried to influence administration policy.
But he told reporters at his weekly press conference that while he believed impeachment was still an “extraordinary” step, that “difficult times call for extreme measures.”
“I think some of these judges have gone far beyond the limits of where they should be working. It would not be a bad thing, in my opinion, for Congress to set the law,” said Johnson.
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Speaker Mike Johnson said he would step in after criticizing the judges who blocked President Donald Trump’s agenda. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP; Win McNamee/Getty Images)
It comes as some Republicans in the Senate and House are calling for the impeachment of U.S. District Judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the two “corrupt judges” earlier this month and said they “meet the constitutional standard for impeachment” during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing.
“I’m serious,” Johnson said when asked about the push. “Boasberg is another one who has been talked about, and these are some of the things that hurt.”
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Boasberg has been targeted by Republicans after ruling in several key immigration cases involving Trump’s policies, including flying migrants to El Salvador and other countries instead of detaining them in the US.
James Boasberg, pictured as the incoming chief judge of the US District Court, in Washington, on March 13, 2023. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He recently drew the ire of the GOP when it was revealed that Boasberg had signed a warrant to seize the phone records of some Republican lawmakers in the former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation.
Cruz asked that Boardman’s case be removed for his decision to sentence a man found guilty of crimes related to the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The man’s sentence of 97 months and a lifetime of supervised release fell far short of sentencing guidelines, according to Cruz.
Although Johnson has never made it clear that he will not be charged, he told reporters last year that he believed it was an unlikely course of action.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters on his way to the Senate’s weekly policy luncheon at the US Capitol in Washington, Dec. 6, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, House Republicans passed a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., aimed to limit judges’ ability to issue injunctions across the country — an approach favored by most House GOP lawmakers.
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“Look, impeachment is never off the table if it’s appropriate. But in our system — we’ve had 15 federal judges impeached in the entire history of the country — I mean, there may be one that I feel is appropriate, but you’ve got to get votes for it. And it’s a huge burden,” Johnson said in May 2025.
“Basically, the bar is high crimes and misdemeanors. I mean, the last federal judge indicted, I think he was caught…taking cash out of an envelope. You know, it’s got to be an immoral or flagrant crime that everybody can agree on.”
