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El Salvador presidential press office\/Distributed by the Associated Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The Constitution gives the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority, the power to impeach a judge with a simple majority vote. But, like a presidential impeachment, any removal requires a vote from a two-thirds majority from the Senate.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s latest social media post aligns him more with allies like billionaire Elon Musk, who has made similar demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are seeing is an attempt by one branch of government to intimidate another branch from performing its constitutional duty. It is a direct threat to judicial independence,\u201d Marin Levy, a Duke University School of Law professor who specializes in the federal courts, said in an email.<\/p>\n
Only one day earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, \u201cI have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just 15 judges have been impeached in the nation\u2019s history, according to the U.S. courts governing body, and just eight have been removed.<\/p>\n
The last judicial impeachment was in 2010. G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of New Orleans was impeached on charges he accepted bribes and then lied about it. He was convicted by the Senate and removed from office in December 2010.<\/p>\n
Calls to impeach judges have been rising as Trump\u2019s sweeping agenda faces pushback in the courts, and at least two members of Congress have said online they plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Boasberg. House Republicans already have filed articles of impeachment against two other judges, Amir Ali and Paul Engelmayer, over rulings they\u2019ve made in Trump-related lawsuits.<\/p>\n
Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n