Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HR241 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	IV
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. RES. 241
5	5	Impeaching John James McConnell Jr., Chief Judge of the United States
6	6	District Court for the District of Rhode Island, for high crimes and
7	7	misdemeanors.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH24, 2025
10	10	Mr. C
11	11	LYDE(for himself, Mr. CRANE, Mr. GILLof Texas, Mr. GOSAR, Mr.
12	12	B
13	13	RECHEEN, Mr. HARRISof Maryland, Mr. PERRY, Mr. MILLS, Ms.
14	14	G
15	15	REENEof Georgia, and Mr. BURLISON) submitted the following resolu-
16	16	tion; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
17	17	RESOLUTION
18	18	Impeaching John James McConnell Jr., Chief Judge of the
19	19	United States District Court for the District of Rhode
20	20	Island, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
21	21	Resolved, That John James McConnell Jr., Chief 1
22	22	Judge of the United States District Court for the District 2
23	23	of Rhode Island, is impeached for high crimes and mis-3
24	24	demeanors and that the following articles of impeachment 4
25	25	be exhibited to the United States Senate: 5
26	26	Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 6
27	27	Representatives of the United States of America in the 7
28	28	name of itself and of the people of the United States of 8
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31	31	•HRES 241 IH
32	32	America, against John James McConnell Jr., Chief Judge 1
33	33	of the United States District Court for the District of 2
34	34	Rhode Island, in maintenance and support of its impeach-3
35	35	ment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. 4
36	36	ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER 5
37	37	6
38	38	Rather than adhering to the oath he took to uphold 7
39	39	the Constitution when he was sworn as Chief Judge of 8
40	40	the District Court of Rhode Island, Chief Judge John 9
41	41	James McConnell Jr. knowingly politicized and 10
42	42	weaponized his judicial position to advance his own polit-11
43	43	ical views and beliefs. 12
44	44	The Constitution provides that the House of Rep-13
45	45	resentatives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’ 14
46	46	and that ‘‘civil Officers of the United States’’, including 15
47	47	Federal judges, are subject to impeachment and removal. 16
48	48	The separation of powers under the Constitution 17
49	49	grants the President broad authority over the Executive 18
50	50	Branch, including direct control and access to depart-19
51	51	ments, as part of his role in ensuring the faithful adminis-20
52	52	tration of the laws and policies of the United States. 21
53	53	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. engaged in 22
54	54	actions that prioritized his own political views and beliefs 23
55	55	over his duty of impartiality owed and deserved to litigants 24
56	56	and the public in his handling of State of New York et 25
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59	59	•HRES 241 IH
60	60	al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 1:25–cv–39 (JJM) 1
61	61	(PAS) (D.R.I.). 2
62	62	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. has spent his 3
63	63	entire professional career displaying his political views and 4
64	64	beliefs in his financial contributions as well as public com-5
65	65	ments. The Code of Conduct for United States Judges 6
66	66	states under Canon 5 that ‘‘A Judge Should Refrain from 7
67	67	Political Activity.’’. 8
68	68	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. served as the 9
69	69	director of the Rhode Island branch of Planned Parent-10
70	70	hood, and Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. and his wife 11
71	71	contributed almost $700,000 in political donations to 12
72	72	Democratic committees, causes, and campaigns. 13
73	73	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. has allowed 14
74	74	his personal, political opinions to influence his decisions 15
75	75	and rulings. Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. has 16
76	76	made an array of public comments clearly demonstrating 17
77	77	a bias that would warp his decision in State of New York 18
78	78	et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 1:25–cv–39 (JJM) 19
79	79	(PAS) (D.R.I.). 20
80	80	In January 2021, Chief Judge John James McCon-21
81	81	nell Jr. made public comments stating, ‘‘we fall back on 22
82	82	kind of a stereotypical comment that judges should have 23
83	83	no opinions and what not. And that’s just not true.’’. 24
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86	86	•HRES 241 IH
87	87	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. made public 1
88	88	comments in January 2021, that equated President Don-2
89	89	ald J. Trump’s first term as President to the Civil War 3
90	90	and Jim Crow laws, and likened him to a tyrant. 4
91	91	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. made public 5
92	92	comments in January 2021, that when sentencing, the 6
93	93	‘‘law applies to them where they are’’ for criminals who 7
94	94	are ‘‘women, black, or transgender.’’. 8
95	95	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. made public 9
96	96	comments in January 2021, stating, ‘‘When you’re sen-10
97	97	tencing someone that you have to take a moment and real-11
98	98	ize that this you know middle class, white, male privileged 12
99	99	person needs to understand the human being who comes 13
100	100	before us that may be a woman or may be black maybe 14
101	101	be transgender maybe poor maybe rich maybe whatever 15
102	102	may had experiences but not yours and may have to walk 16
103	103	in their shoes and understand that the law applies to them 17
104	104	where they are um and then you have to apply the law 18
105	105	accordingly.’’. 19
106	106	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. made public 20
107	107	comments in January 2021, stating, ‘‘we have formed a 21
108	108	committee to look at race in our court, have we given dis-22
109	109	parate sentences between blacks and whites about hiring 23
110	110	practices.’’. 24
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113	113	•HRES 241 IH
114	114	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr.’s financial 1
115	115	contributions and overt public comments clearly dem-2
116	116	onstrate a political bias that would impair his ability to 3
117	117	make a fair judgement regarding President Trump and 4
118	118	his Administration’s actions. 5
119	119	Wherefore, Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. 6
120	120	is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be 7
121	121	removed from office. 8
122	122	ARTICLE II: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 9
123	123	10
124	124	While serving as a Chief Judge for the United States 11
125	125	District Court of Rhode Island, John James McConnell 12
126	126	Jr. had a major conflict of interest that prevented him 13
127	127	from being impartial in the matter of State of New York 14
128	128	et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 1:25–cv–39 (JJM) 15
129	129	(PAS) (D.R.I.). 16
130	130	There is substantial evidence that Chief Judge John 17
131	131	James McConnell Jr. serves on the Board of Directors for 18
132	132	the non-profit organization, Crossroads Rhode Island, and 19
133	133	previously served as the Chair of the Board from 2011 20
134	134	to 2021. 21
135	135	According to Crossroads Rhode Island’s tax filings, 22
136	136	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. has appeared 23
137	137	every year as a director of the organization since he took 24
138	138	the Federal bench. 25
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141	141	•HRES 241 IH
142	142	According to Crossroads Rhode Island’s tax filings 1
143	143	for 2023, its total revenue was $30,664,778, of which 2
144	144	$18,616,874 came from an array of government entities 3
145	145	including the Government of Rhode Island. 4
146	146	In fiscal year 2025, Crossroads Rhode Island has al-5
147	147	ready received $2,897,630.41 in funds from the State gov-6
148	148	ernment of Rhode Island. 7
149	149	The State Government of Rhode Island is a named 8
150	150	plaintiff in the lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump 9
151	151	and his Administration over which Chief Judge John 10
152	152	James McConnell Jr. presided. 11
153	153	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. stated that 12
154	154	‘‘All the States rely on federal funds to provide and main-13
155	155	tain vital programs and services. . . .’’ Mem. Op. at 7, 14
156	156	State of New York et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 15
157	157	1:25–cv–39 (JJM) (PAS) (D.R.I. Jan. 31, 2025) (ECF 16
158	158	No. 50). 17
159	159	There is a clear conflict of interest given that Chief 18
160	160	Judge John James McConnell Jr. presided over and made 19
161	161	a decision regarding a case which significantly impacts the 20
162	162	funding of an organization in which he serves as a director 21
163	163	of and as a fiduciary. 22
164	164	The Code of Conduct for United States Judges states 23
165	165	under Canon 2A that ‘‘A judge must avoid all impropriety 24
166	166	and appearance of impropriety. This prohibition applies 25
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169	169	•HRES 241 IH
170	170	to both professional and personal conduct. A judge must 1
171	171	expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny and 2
172	172	accept freely and willingly restrictions that might be 3
173	173	viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen.’’. 4
174	174	Section 455 of title 28, United States Code, requires 5
175	175	that ‘‘Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the 6
176	176	United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding 7
177	177	in which his impartiality might reasonably be ques-8
178	178	tioned.’’. 9
179	179	Moreover, section 455 of title 28, United States Code, 10
180	180	requires that judges must disqualify themselves from a 11
181	181	proceeding when ‘‘He knows that he, individually or as 12
182	182	a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his 13
183	183	household, has a financial interest in the subject matter 14
184	184	in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other 15
185	185	interest that could be substantially affected by the out-16
186	186	come of the proceeding’’. 17
187	187	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. had a signifi-18
188	188	cant conflict of interest in presiding over State of New 19
189	189	York et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 1:25–cv–39 20
190	190	(JJM) (PAS) (D.R.I.) due to his simultaneous role as a 21
191	191	director of Crossroads Rhode Island. This conflict of inter-22
192	192	est made it impossible for him to be impartial in this pro-23
193	193	ceeding. 24
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196	196	•HRES 241 IH
197	197	Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. should have 1
198	198	immediately recused himself from presiding over this pro-2
199	199	ceeding, but instead continued to oversee it knowing he 3
200	200	was violating the duty of impartiality owed under Federal 4
201	201	law. 5
202	202	Wherefore, Chief Judge John James McConnell Jr. 6
203	203	is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be 7
204	204	removed from office. 8
205	205	Æ
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