USA Today reports:

The growing clash between President Donald Trump and the judiciary took a major turn Tuesday as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump’s call for the impeachment of a federal judge.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a rare public statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Trump’s call for impeachment escalated his increasing attacks on federal district judges who have sided against his administration on several fronts, including its efforts to cut the federal workforce through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have accused judges of trying to control the executive branch’s power.

Trump responded to Roberts’ statement in a Fox News interview aired Tuesday night. “Well, he didn’t mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly,” Trump said. “But many people have called for the impeachment of this judge. I don’t know who the judge is, but he’s radical left.”

Asked by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham whether he would defy a court order, Trump said: “No, you can’t do that. However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges, and these are judges that shouldn’t be allowed.”

NPR reports:

Federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration this year are confronting a wave of threats, potentially compromising their personal safety and the independence of the judiciary.

The sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett received a bomb threat earlier this month, and lower court judges who hit pause on some of President Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies and programs have been singled out on social media.

Republican lawmakers close to the president even have proposed impeachment proceedings against a few of those judges, who serve for life.

Elon Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency making cuts to federal agencies, himself has repeatedly posted on social media about impeaching judges who delay or block parts of Trump’s agenda.

Efforts to undermine the judiciary come at the same time the Trump administration has moved to fire lawyers inside the Justice Department and the Pentagon, penalize private law firms who represented clients Trump does not like, and to back away from participation in the activities of the American Bar Association.

Judge Richard Sullivan, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, said in his lifetime four federal judges have been killed in retaliation for their work on the bench.

“This is not hypothetical,” Sullivan, who leads a Judicial Conference panel on security issues, told reporters in a news conference this week. The Judicial Conference is a representative body of federal judges that frames policies for courts. “It’s real. It’s happened before. We have to be certain that it doesn’t happen again,” he said. [Continue reading…]

Politico reports:

Publicly, key GOP leaders are not closing the door on potential impeachments.

“Everything is on the table,” said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who would oversee impeachment proceedings. A Johnson spokesperson said judges “with political agendas pose a significant threat” and that the speaker “looks forward to working with the Judiciary Committee as they review all available options under the Constitution to address this urgent matter.”

But privately there is dread inside Johnson’s leadership circle about the prospect of having to pursue messy, certain-to-fail impeachments that could ultimately backfire on the GOP’s razor-thin majority.

“It’s never going to happen,” said a senior House Republican aide. “There aren’t the votes.”

“It would be such a heavy lift and we’ve got too many heavy lifts coming up,” said another top GOP aide. “What is the endgame here?”

A third said GOP leaders and even some conservative House members are “rolling their eyes” at the impeachment filings that “aren’t going to go anywhere.” [Continue reading…]