Conservatives mobilize to remove Judge Boasberg from the bench

The House Freedom Caucus is joining efforts by one of its own members to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, last month introduced an impeachment resolution against Boasberg for his role in Arctic Frost, a code name for former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump and the 2020 election.

Gill argued that Boasberg acted in a partisan manner when he signed subpoenas and silence orders related to the investigation, including subpoenas for the phone records of several Republican lawmakers in Congress — news of which was made public in documents released this year by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

But it’s not immediately clear whether the pressure to impeach Boasberg is strong enough to launch a full-blown pressure campaign on House Republican leaders.

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Members of the House Freedom Caucus, like Rep. Chip Roy, left, and Speaker Andy Harris, right, support efforts to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, center. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images; Valérie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“It absolutely should be done,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital last week. “I think it’s a level above what we thought. His bias is pretty clear, someone with that kind of bias cannot exist in the federal judiciary.”

But Harris signaled that would not be an issue the conservative group would pressure House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on anytime soon.

“No, we have other issues as well. Our focus right now is on tax issues,” Harris said when asked if he would take the issue to House leaders. “But we discussed it, and there is broad support for removing the judge.”

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However, his conservative caucus seems largely in favor of this proposal.

“I think there’s considerable movement here, especially in light of the genesis of Arctic Frost … the enormous concerns we have with what the judge is doing — just making up facts out of thin air and assumptions based on motives that have no basis,” Chip Roy, R-Texas, policy chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is also running for governor of South Carolina, told Fox News Digital, “I hope so,” when asked if this impeachment campaign would be stronger than the last.

Rep. Brandon Gill, Republican of Texas, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the U.S. Capitol, June 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“He’s so partisan. He’s one of the rogue judges out there today,” Norman said. “There are consequences for what he did.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., noted that he was an early supporter of impeaching judges that conservatives saw as overly partisan moves in the Trump era.

“I think a lot of these judges have crossed the line and violated their oath. I support that, yes,” he told Fox News Digital.

He was more cautious when asked if it would produce results. “I don’t tend to trust anything here until action is taken. Talk costs nothing,” Crane said.

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Gill was one of several members of the House Freedom Caucus to introduce impeachment resolutions against Boasberg last spring, when he issued an order temporarily blocking Trump’s deportation flights to El Salvador.

At the time, however, Johnson warned Republicans that impeachment was not the most practical way to rein in “rogue judges” — pointing out that their removal would require support in the Senate that simply did not exist.

Instead, House GOP leaders rallied behind a bill from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Judiciary panel’s subcommittee on courts.

That legislation, aimed at limiting the power of district court judges to issue injunctions nationwide, passed the House in early April but never passed the Senate.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., seen during a House hearing in 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Issa himself warned against moving too quickly toward impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital last week.

“We have a number of crooked judges, and I think before we talk about impeachment, with so many people finding wrongdoing, the House and the Senate need to have proper hearings and evaluate what is the right definition of good behavior and whether not just one, but multiple judges have clearly violated that,” Issa said. “I think that’s the right way to approach it.”

Issa said he was “considering” holding a hearing on the issue when lawmakers return to the Capitol after Thanksgiving.

Fox News Digital contacted the US justice system, which declined to comment for this story.