Republicans Push to Impeach Obama-Appointed Judges

House Republicans introduced multiple impeachment resolutions this month targeting two federal judges appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Representative Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida, filed a resolution on June 9 to impeach John McConnell Jr., the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, over a ruling that struck down a Trump administration immigration policy framework.

Four days earlier, on June 5, McConnell vacated a policy adopted by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that paused asylum applications and pending immigration benefit requests for individuals from countries the administration deemed high-risk. Steube’s resolution accused McConnell of dismissing the executive branch’s national security justifications as pretextual and placing “the interests of noncitizens seeking immigration benefits above the national security of the United States.”

Steube did not respond to a request for comment.

McConnell was nominated to the federal bench by Obama in 2011. A separate resolution, H. Res. 241, was introduced against him in March 2025, accusing him of abusing his judicial position to advance his personal political views.

Georgia Republicans Move to Impeach Judge Over Courthouse Misconduct

Two Georgia Republicans filed impeachment resolutions targeting Judge Eleanor Ross of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia following a federal judicial misconduct investigation.

Representative Clay Fuller filed his resolution on June 8. Representative Andrew Clyde followed a day later. Clyde’s resolution has 14 co-sponsors. Neither Fuller nor Clyde responded to requests for comment.

The resolutions stem from an investigation by the Judicial Council of the Eleventh Circuit, which found that Ross had engaged in a sexual relationship with Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Kelley Collier inside her courthouse chambers during business hours, attended a partisan political event and was not truthful when initially questioned about the conduct by Eleventh Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor.

Ross later acknowledged the relationship but disputed some aspects of the complaints, according to records reviewed by the Associated Press. A person answering the phone in Ross’s chambers said the judge had no comment.

What the Misconduct Investigation Found

The inquiry began after a law clerk in Ross’s office filed a complaint. Investigators reviewed witness accounts, building access records and security footage. The special committee found Ross had engaged in misconduct and issued its report to the Judicial Council, which issued a private reprimand. The judicial council barred her from serving as chief judge and from serving on any Judicial Conference committees. She remains an active federal judge.

The Atlanta Police Department has opened a separate inquiry to determine whether the officer identified in the investigation is one of its employees.

Ross was nominated to the Northern District of Georgia by Obama in 2014 and confirmed by the Senate later that year. Before joining the federal bench, she served as a DeKalb County state court judge and spent more than a decade as a state and federal prosecutor in Atlanta.

Resolutions Head to House Judiciary Committee

The three resolutions were referred to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio. Fuller said he coordinated with Jordan’s office in drafting his resolution. Jordan did not respond to a request for comment.

Under the Constitution, federal judges hold lifetime appointments and can only be removed through impeachment by the House and conviction by a two-thirds vote in the Senate. In United States history, only 15 federal judges have ever been impeached, with just eight convicted.

A Broader Republican Push Against the Federal Bench

Republicans have filed impeachment resolutions this Congress against multiple federal judges over rulings against the Trump administration’s immigration and law enforcement agenda. Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, has faced multiple impeachment resolutions since March 2025 after he temporarily blocked deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act.

In February, Bloomberg Law reported that a Trump Justice Department official solicited examples of perceived judicial activism from all 93 United States attorneys’ offices to inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has previously described a “war” with the federal judiciary.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said in January he supported the use of impeachment against judges, calling it an “extreme measure” warranted by what he described as “egregious abuses.”

“We don’t do one unless we think we truly have the elements necessary for the Senate to agree with us,” said Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from California who chairs the House Judiciary Committee panel overseeing the judicial branch, in an interview with Bloomberg Law in February.

Under the Constitution, conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote. Johnson can afford to lose only one Republican vote in the House, assuming unified Democratic opposition.

Democrats Introduce Their Own Impeachment Resolution

Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, introduced six articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on May 21, accusing him of ethical violations, conflicts of interest and partisan rulings on redistricting. Cohen announced the resolution days after saying he would not seek reelection following Tennessee’s redrawing of his congressional district. Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.

Judicial Impeachment Is Rare in American History

The House has initiated impeachment proceedings more than 60 times in American history. Only eight individuals, all federal judges, have been convicted and removed by the Senate. Removals have historically followed gross misconduct such as bribery or perjury, not judicial rulings. The last judge convicted was G. Thomas Porteous Jr. in 2010.

Partisan impeachment efforts against the judiciary date to the founding era. The Jeffersonian Congress impeached Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in 1804 over his conduct on the bench. Chase was acquitted by the Senate, an outcome legal scholars have long cited as establishing that impeachment is not a tool for punishing judges over their decisions. “Impeaching judges based on their decisions has been frowned upon, even in Congress, since the early 1800s,” Michael Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor and author of Impeachment: What Everyone Needs to Know, told PolitiFact in March 2025.

Roberts Has Rebuked Calls to Impeach Judges

Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement in March 2025 rebuking calls to impeach judges over their rulings. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

It was not the first time Roberts had pushed back on Trump’s comments about the judiciary. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Roberts publicly rebuked the president after Trump criticized an “Obama judge” who had ruled against one of his asylum policies. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said at the time.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 2:00 PM.