House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress has the power to eliminate entire district courts on Tuesday, joining a chorus of Republicans growing increasingly frustrated with federal courts blocking the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to overhaul the government.
Johnson, a former constitutional attorney, said there was “a dangerous trend” of federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions that prevent the implementation of President Donald Trump’s policies.
“We do have authority over the federal courts, as you know,” he said in a press conference. “We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act. So stay tuned for that.”
In the latest episode of courts going against the Trump administration, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday that blocked the detention of Columbia student Yunseo Chung, who was targeted for her participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
The most high-profile legal showdown has been playing out in Washington, where Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to turn around planes carrying deported Venezuelan immigrants accused by the government of having links to the gang Tren de Aragua.
Lawyers for those immigrants said their clients were denied due process. In one instance, a man was accused of gang affiliation because he had a tattoo that his loved ones insist was inspired by Real Madrid, a soccer team with a huge fanbase in Latin America, and because he posed with a rock-and-roll hand sign in an old photo.
Boasberg has, in particular, become the subject of Trump’s ire, with the president calling for the judge’s impeachment.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts later issued a rare statement reminding Trump that impeaching judges was “not an appropriate response” to disagreements over judicial decisions.
Johnson, however, insisted that “it violates the separation of powers when a judge thinks that they can enjoin something that a president is doing that the American people voted for.”
“That is not what the founders intended,” he said. “So there’s a natural tension between the branches of the government, and we’re working through that.”
The speaker said the House Judiciary Committee was exploring options to fight back against the courts, including a bill seeking to limit the scope of federal injunctions.
