The U.S. Judiciary: A Modern-Day Trojan Horse?
Democrats admit they packed the lower federal courts with "liberal" activists, which may explain why the executive and legislative branches are how engaged in a war against the judiciary.
After losing the presidency and both houses of Congress in 2024, Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said he wasn’t worried because Democrats had packed the lower federal courts with “liberal” judges during the four-year term of Democratic President Joseph Biden.
He boasted that Biden got 235 judges appointed -more than a quarter of the federal judiciary - and that these judges would be a bulwark against the Trump administration.
Schumer’s plan was a twist on a strategy used successfully thousands of years ago by the Greeks in the Trojan War.
The Greeks built a massive hollow wooden horse to gain entry to Troy during the Trojan War. They gave the horse to the Trojans, saying it was an offering to the goddess of war, Athena. Then they pretended to sail home. But a contingent of Greek soldiers were hiding inside the horse. When the Trojans wheeled the horse through Troy’s impregnable gates, the Greek soldiers emerged and slaughtered the Trojans.
Schumer envisioned the Biden judges as the Greek soldiers.
The Biden nominated judges were appointed by the U.S. Senate to serve impartially, and to rule based upon the facts and the law. But they were picked by Democrats to protect Biden’s legacy. There can be little doubt that Biden’s judges have formed a bulwark against the undeniable mandate that Trump received in the 2024 election - to reduce the size of federal government and to deport illegal immigrants.
Today, the three branches of the U.S. government are at a war in which the executive and legislative branches are pitted against the judicial branch.
This week, Biden-nominated U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff of Virginia is challenging the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. With undisguised bitterness, Trump remarked that Comey is “off to a good start” because Nachmanoff is “a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge.”
Meanwhile, Trump is urging the U.S. Senate to drop the filibuster rule, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to advance legislation. Some are predicting the filibuster’s days are numbered. Many in the Senate say the filibuster rule encourages moderation and thoughtfulness, but the GOP may have no choice but to abandon it to advance legislation that Biden judges have buried in litigation.
The GOP majority in the U.S. Congress last month began pursuing the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia, who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2011.
On Monday, a group of Senate Republicans sent a letter to D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan urging the D.C. circuit’s judicial council to place Boasberg on administrative suspension “pending formal impeachment by the House of Representatives and, if impeached, an impeachment trial by the Senate.”
A Special Case
The letter states that Boasberg improperly granted gag orders in the “Arctic Frost” probe led by Biden’s former special counsel Jack L. Smith’s probe into the 2020 election. Boasberg signed off on 200+ nondisclosure orders seeking phone records and information pertaining to at least 200 Republicans, including 13 GOP members of Congress. Boasberg also blocked the targeted parties from learning that Smith had gained access to their phone and communication records.
Additionally, the letter notes Boasberg is accused of improperly using his role as then-Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to assign himself J.G.G. v. Trump, a case that the Supreme Court later found he lacked jurisdiction to handle.
Finally, the letter notes, a earlier misconduct complaint was filed against Boasberg for raising a “wholly unsolicited discussion” at a Judicial Conference in March that the Trump administration “would disregard rulings of the federal courts, leading to a constitutional crisis.” The Senators note that Chief Judge Sririvasan has yet to provide a written explanation for why he has failed to “expeditiously” act on the complaint, or whether he has formed a special committee to investigation the judicial misconduct.
The impeachment motion, introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), states that Boasberg “used the powers of his position to engage in actions that overstep his judicial authority. By making a political decision outside the scope of his judicial duties, he compromised the impartiality of our judicial system and created a constitutional crisis.”
A three-judge appellate panel ruled last week that Boasberg can proceed with inquiries about whether the federal government was in criminal contempt when it failed to halt deportations issued under the Alien Enemies Act. “Judicial orders are not suggestions; they are binding commands that the Executive Branch, no less than any other party, must obey,” wrote the panel.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an 8-3 vote, refused to halt Boasberg based upon an obscure procedural rule (“Collateral Bar”) that bars a party from challenging the validity of a court order as a defense in criminal contempt proceedings if they disobeyed that order.
The bottom line is that all three branches of government are engaged in machinations that have little to nothing to do with the state of the economy or the welfare of the American people. It’s all about who has the power.
As Queen of France Marie-Antoinette said when told her starving subjects had no bread, “Let them eat cake.”
