The Federalist Society’s annual lawyers meeting is going on in Washington D.C., and yesterday there was a panel on Judicial Oversight of District Courts after Trump v. CASA, limiting lower courts’ ability to issue universal injunctions to block the enforcement of policies. Though conservatives won that case, and have a wildly partisan win rate at the Supreme Court, panelist Chad Mizelle, former chief of staff to the Attorney General, still finds plenty to complain about.
Mizelle’s comments called out district courts that have tried to place constitutional speed bumps on the Trump agenda. Like his former boss, Mizelle says these are liberal judges that aren’t acting in good faith (never mind that Reagan-appointed judges are leading the charge). And he knows what we should do about it. Impeach them.
Politico reports on Mizelle’s comments:
“What’s going to force the Supreme Court to do something is fundamentally political pressure. It’s going to be when Congress starts impeaching judges and saying … ‘You are now encroaching into our territory,’” Mizelle said during a panel discussion at the Federalist Society’s annual lawyers’ meeting in Washington.
Mizelle’s impeachment battle cry followed a somewhat cryptic story he shared that appeared to involve an implicit threat his father once issued to put down a stray cat in the family’s yard.
“What do I think DJT should do? He should stand up, and he’s already done this, and say, ‘Judges, I know how to deal with stray cats,’” said Mizelle, who served as acting associate AG and chief of staff to AG Pam Bondi before stepping down last month. (Mizelle’s wife, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, is a Trump-appointed federal district court judge in Florida.)
Of course, there are problems with this strategy. Put aside the massive hit this would cause to the rule of law, but as a matter of logistics, this is nothing more than an empty threat. Remember, it’s not that easy to kick someone out of their lifetime appointment. In order to actually remove a federal judge from the bench, you need 60 senators to vote to convict the jurist — and refusing to rubber stamp a far-right policy agenda isn’t going to have the votes. (Hell, even before you get to the Senate’s trial part of an impeachment, Mike Johnson would have to call the House of Representatives back from recess, and who knows when that will be.)
Yet it’s important to note that the impeachment option is so freely bandied about. We now live in a world of political retribution, and this is merely another way conservatives are trying to apply pressure to eliminate the opposition to their agenda. Even if the opposition is rooted in constitutional concerns.
Mizelle’s words are chilling, and they don’t exist in a vacuum. There’s a sharp increase in threats against federal judges — up 327% in the Trump II era. Though Mizelle means treating judges who dare to question the far-right agenda like “stray cats” is impeachment, it’s easy to see how an extremist might take the words more literally.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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