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Trump-appointed judges warn of threats, criticize calls to impeach judges
June 24 (Reuters) - Two U.S. appeals court judges appointed by President Donald Trump told lawmakers on Tuesday that they viewed calls to impeach judges over their rulings as inappropriate and that the judiciary needed more resources to bolster security for members of the bench.
U.S. Circuit Judges Amy St. Eve and Michael Scudder appeared before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee on behalf of the U.S. Judicial Conference for a hearing examining the courts' finances and cybersecurity.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle used the rare appearance before Congress by two sitting members of the judiciary to prod them about the fallout from a wave of court rulings blocking Trump's immigration and cost-cutting agenda.
Trump and his allies have called judges who have ruled against his administration as "activists," "crooked," "conflicted" and "rogue." Many of the judges have been subjected to threats, and conservative lawmakers in the Republican-led House have even moved to impeach six of the judges.
St. Eve, who chairs the Judicial Conference's budget committee, at the hearing renewed the judiciary's request that Congress boost security spending for the courts in 2026 to $892 million, up 19% from the current fiscal year, "to address a complex and evolving threat environment."
Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren of California pressed St. Eve on whether the Judicial Conference, the judiciary's top policymaking body, had many referrals recommending any of the judges who ruled against Trump be impeached.
"To my knowledge, no, that's outside of the scope of the budget, what I'm prepared to testify to today," St. Eve said. "But I know that we do strongly disagree with calls for impeachment based solely on a judge's rulings."
She echoed comments U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made in a statement in March that the appellate process, not impeachment, was the way parties should address rulings they disagree with.
Roberts' comments came after Trump called for impeaching U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, who had blocked the president from using wartime powers to deport Venezuelan migrants.
Scudder, who like St. Eve sits on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, concurred and told lawmakers that judges should never "rule in a way that is designed to please a public official as opposed to enforce the meaning of the law."
Republican Representative Darrell Issa, who chairs the Judiciary Committee's panel on courts, stressed that none of the impeachment articles referred to the committee for its review were under active consideration.
Republican Representative Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee's chair, said lawmakers are "comfortable with making sure there's security," but not with boosting spending on everything else within the court system, "particularly with some of the decisions you've seen."
Republican Representative Russell Fry of South Carolina described the judiciary as "politically compromised, prompting Democratic Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado to ask the judges if they agreed it was.
"I don't," Scudder said. He said judges "look at the facts and the law to try to get it right, recognizing that there's an appellate process in place if the losing party disagrees or the ruling can be challenged."
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