US Doesn't Impeach Judges Based on Views: Robert McWhirter

Civil rights lawyer Robert McWhirter warns about the impact of the Trump administration's attacks on the judicial system including calls to limiting power of district judges and pressure on law firms.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called on appropriators to add language in legislation funding the federal judiciary limiting nationwide injunctions issued by district court judges.

“As you develop appropriations for the federal judiciary, we respectfully urge you to consider appropriate language that would enhance judicial restraint and reaffirm democratic principles,” Jordan wrote in a Monday letter to Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.). The letter was also addressed to Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who leads the Appropriations Committee panel that oversees funding for the judiciary.

Using the appropriations process to target national injunctions is the latest vehicle for Republicans, seeking to punish judges who’ve ruled against the Trump administration as two other approaches appear likely to falter. Senate Judiciary Democrats indicated in interviews they don’t support the nationwide injunction legislation.

Still, targeting judiciary funds would face an uphill battle in the Senate, where even some Republicans have expressed hesitance to cut judiciary appropriations in response to nationwide rulings.

Judiciary Committee members Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C), said Tuesday they wouldn’t support tapping into courts’ funding.

“I don’t necessarily want to use a financial lever. I’d really like to just have good, sound policy,” Tillis said.

Even if Senate Republicans did have full caucus backing, seven Democrats would need to support the effort for legislation to move forward under chamber rules. Democratic leaders have voiced opposition to such an effort since House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) floated it last week.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee, called the notion of cutting the judiciary’s appropriations a “thinly veiled effort to muzzle the courts.”

Such an action “would disrupt the constitutional balance,” said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that funds the courts.

“I cannot believe there’s a single Democrat who would vote to defund specific federal courts in response to decisions that were not to the liking of the president,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a Judiciary Committee member, said in an interview last week.

In his letter, Jordan said appropriators should consider language prohibiting the use of “taxpayer dollars and federal resources to issue or enforce” injunctions beyond “the specific parties in front of an issuing court in a particular case.”

He also suggested language limiting appropriated funds “related to the issuance and enforcement of nationwide injunctions, including using court resources to compel compliance, impose fines, or conduct contempt proceedings related to such injunctions.”

However, Jordan clarified that the spending committee should “appropriately fund” judicial security measures to protect judges and court employees.

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