Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the 91-year-old chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, broke with President Trump and several House Republicans on Thursday, pushing back against growing calls to impeach federal judgeswho rule against Trump’s agenda. Grassley made it clear that judicial decisions even unpopular ones are not grounds for impeachment, and warned his colleagues not to turn the process into a political weapon.
“You can’t impeach a judge just because you disagree with their opinion,” Grassley told Fox News, in response to recent efforts from Trump allies to remove judges who have blocked parts of the administration’s immigration and national security actions most notably the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
The comment comes amid heightened tensions between the judiciary and Trump’s inner circle, following a decision earlier this month by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to temporarily halt a key deportation program. The ruling, which sparked immediate backlash from Trump, prompted the president to call for Boasberg’s impeachment, labeling him a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama.”
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) followed suit by introducing articles of impeachment against Boasberg, accusing him of “abuse of power.” The legislation has already gained support from 22 Republican House members.
But Grassley, a longtime conservative and one of the Senate’s most respected legal minds, signaled that this kind of retaliation crosses a line. “We’ve got to be a legislative body,” he said. “I know the president is irritated with some of these judges and I don’t blame him, but you can’t impeach a judge just because you disagree with an opinion.”
Grassley is working on a different approach to the issue, crafting legislation that would limit district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions a legal tool that has increasingly been used to block presidential actions from coast to coast. He plans to hold a Senate hearing on April 2 to explore “legislative solutions to the bipartisan problem of universal injunctions.”
The senator’s remarks signal growing discomfort within the Republican Party over the push to impeach judges for issuing rulings that are legally grounded but politically inconvenient. Legal scholars across the political spectrum warn that such moves threaten the independence of the judiciary and could erode the separation of powers.
At the same time, Trump’s repeated demands for judicial impeachments are placing pressure on Republican lawmakers, many of whom are wary of opposing the former president but concerned about the long-term damage such actions could inflict on U.S. institutions.
With Trump escalating his rhetoric and allies in the House already drafting articles of impeachment, Grassley’s public pushback is significant and may signal that the GOP’s appetite for judicial retaliation has limits. But with pressure building from Trump’s base and conservative media, the question remains: Will this internal divide weaken support for Trump’s broader policies and undermine the rule of law? Or will cooler heads like Grassley’s prevail before impeachment becomes just another political tool?