President Donald Trump called for the impeachment of a federal judge probing whether his administration violated a court order to halt the deportation of migrants under the Alien Enemies Act—echoing calls from some of his allies who have also challenged the courts’ authority over the executive branch.

The House can impeach federal judges by majority vote, setting up a trial in the Senate, where votes from two-thirds of members are required to remove a federal judge—a highly unlikely outcome given the Senate’s partisan split. The U.S. Constitution states that judges can be impeached following convictions in for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” and also states that judges “shall hold their offices during good behavior,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Trump has routinely attacked judges—and some of their family members—who rule against him, but he has also defended conservative justices, telling members of the Justice Department in a speech on Friday it is “totally illegal” to criticize judges. At the same time, the White House has suggested that lower level courts do not have authority over Trump: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters “you cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States,” referring to an order blocking the administration’s termination of thousands of probationary federal workers. Billionaire Elon Musk also called for Boasberg to be impeached over the weekend, writing on X “necessary” in response to Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who said he would file articles of impeachment against Boasberg. Leavitt, when asked by a reporter on Monday about Trump’s own contradictions regarding criticism of judges, said “I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges. I know you mentioned Mr. Musk’s tweet, but I have not heard the president of the United States ask that.”

The Trump administration said it deported more than 260 migrants Saturday, including 137 removed under the Alien Enemies Act, despite Boasberg’s order blocking the wartime authority from taking effect for at least 14 days. The Justice Department, in a hearing Monday, argued that the deportation flights had already departed at the time Boasberg’s written order was issued at 7:26 p.m. EDT. Boasberg, in a verbal order issued at 6:45 p.m., said flights already in progress should be turned around and suggested he only lost jurisdiction if the migrants had already been transferred to foreign governments. The written order did not contain the language about flights already in progress, however, and the Trump administration has argued the verbal order doesn’t carry the same weight.

Boasberg gave the Justice Department a deadline of 12 p.m. Tuesday to provide information about the terms under which the migrants were deported Saturday and flight logs showing exactly when they were removed, after the DOJ refused to answer those questions in a hearing Monday. Earlier Monday, the Trump administration asked a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court to remove Boasberg from the case, arguing he engaged in “highly unusual and improper procedures.”

Did Trump Administration Ignore A Court Order? Judge Demands Trump Officials Explain (Forbes)

Trump Administration Wants Judge Removed After Allegations It Ignored His Court Order (Forbes)