Democratic lawmakers are claiming a D.C. circuit court judge’s ruling blocking the Trump administration’s deportation of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members is a rightful part of “separation of powers.” Republicans, however, say the judge overstepped his bounds and that they are moving to ensure such an occurrence does not happen again.
This comes as the Trump administration has faced more than a dozen injunctions from various district court judges across the country on a range of policy decisions.
On Wednesday, a federal appellate court declined to issue a stay on a ruling by Obama-appointed D.C. Federal District Judge James Boasberg, who issued a temporary restraining order last weekend blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals.
In light of these developments, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing early next week looking into the issue of “activist judges.”
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that in addition to the hearing, House GOP members are also considering a bill to address the issue.
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“I think the administration’s doing the right thing by fighting it legally,” he said. “There’s a good bill that we’re considering. So, we’ll be looking at that next week.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., confirmed the GOP plans to take action, saying, “We’ll do everything that we can with our legislative toolkit to ensure that they are doing what’s right by the American people and then also following through on our constitutional obligations.”
“Right before President Trump took office, the Democrats actually knowingly made admissions that they were appointing obstructionist justices in order to undermine what the president’s agenda was,” Luna told Fox News Digital.
“Those judges are not elected to office to interpret or set foreign policy perspective. That is the entire job of the administration,” she said.
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Asked how a lone circuit court judge can overrule the president on foreign policy, Democrats responded by invoking the need for separation of powers and “due process.”
“The issue before the court is due process, and one that I think the courts are going to chime in strongly on this as they have already, in many instances,” said Rep. Jesús García, D-Ill.
“I believe in the separation of powers and the federal courts are an equal branch of government,” answered Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz. “I support the right to make a decision, and all branches of government, both executive and Congress, need to abide by federal court decisions.“
Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., bashed President Donald Trump as “insane” for calling Boasberg a “radical left lunatic of a judge” who should be impeached.
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“The judiciary has to be independent whether it goes for you or against you,” said Swalwell. “We can’t let politics invade judicial decisions, and wanting to impeach a judge is just insane.”
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asserted that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act could be unwarranted because there has not been any war declared.
“The Alien Enemies Act is a law. It’s a law that has to be followed. So, they’re not dictating foreign policy, they’re saying you have to actually follow the law, which is kind of a judge’s job if they are following the law,” said Smith. “But it’s a question to be asked and the Alien Enemies Act is pursuant to a declaration of war. There has not been a declaration of war. So, the law does need to be followed, and I think it’s appropriate to analyze that question.”
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Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are asking a very different question.
“Who the hell do they think they are?” asked Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
“A district in the east, or whatever, to be able to do an injunction and apply it to the whole country, they shouldn’t have the ability to do that. They shouldn’t do it,” he said.
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Speaking with Fox News Digital on the steps of the Capitol, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Ohio, pointed to an inscription on the Supreme Court building, saying, “It says equal justice under the law. So, when you have jurists that are acting in an unconstitutional manner… they need to go, period.“
“We’re coequal branches of government,” he went on, adding, “That dude, he’s not a king.”
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Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, called the use of activist judges to override foreign policy “really scary.”
“As far as the low-lying judges, it’s a little bit scary to think that they could actually stop the progression of a federal movement where you have the executive branch which should be the final say as far as that,” he said.
“My party needs to be very methodical about how we fix it, and we have to codify law to make sure that we can prevent this from happening again,” he went on.
“It’s probably not going to be the fastest movement,” he predicted. “But we’re going to try to do better with the laws, so this doesn’t happen again.”
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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